Ogun: Tomato farmers protest seizure of goods by Customs

Yewa/Awori Farm Produce Traders and Farmers Association in Ogun State, on Monday, protested the seizure of six trucks loaded with tomatoes by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

The protesters, led by their chairman, Mr Timothy Eweoba, stormed the premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oke -Ilewo, Abeokuta, appealing to the federal and Ogun State governments respectively to intervene on the development.

Armed with placards with inscriptions “We”re Nigerians; help us”, Customs want to kill us”, “Save us from Customs”, the farmers wondered why Customs would impound their farm produce when it was not a contraband product.

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Eweoba while fielding questions from newsmen narrated that Customs operatives impounded six trucks of tomato and pepper on Sunday night, at Ijoun, in Yewa North Local Government Area of the state.

He explained that each truck contained 250 baskets at N2000 per basket, saying that each basket was sold at N50 to members of the public by Customs.

“We want the government to intervene and come to our aid. We are farmers and not smugglers. This is not rice and we took a loan from banks to plant all these products,” he said.

The chairman said a majority of them obtained credit facility to finance the business.

He said an officer of the NCS informed them that the decision to impound the farm produce was an order from above.

The National Public Relations of NCS, John Attah, said the tomatoes were impounded at the borderline.

He said, “The tomatoes were impounded at the borderline. And if it’s true as they claimed that it was locally produced, they should go there and prove it.

“Its imperative for them to prove that the goods are local goods. It’s not rocket science. This is a joint exercise and it goes beyond the Customs. What we are doing is in the interest of national security.”