Stemming currency trafficking at Seme border

By Martin IKhilae

Unauthorised movement of goods and medium of exchange apparently appear to be adopting a worrisome dimension in Nigeria.

The relevance of financial resources in form of bills as trade facilitator and regulator cannot be underemphasised.

Implicatively, therefore, individual nation means of exchange or trade varies both in adoption, utilisation and preservation.

As a legal tender, currencies need not be abused particularly through falsification, adulteration or faking in the interest of prosperity for nations and their citizens.

This explains why the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) abhors currency smuggling and falsification. The borderless cum stemming porous nature of Nigeria’s land borders makes it outrightly imperative for operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, a trade facilitating and anti-smuggling paramilitary agency of government to remain maximally and consistently at alert in forestalling any form of abuse to this tool of trade “currency“.

Just recently, precisely on February 2, 2023, vigilant and professionally seasoned officials of the seme border customs administrative arm otherwise tagged: Customs Area Command, nabbed about four dare-devil smugglers, who were moving fake United States Dollar bills totaling about Six Million ($6,000,000) out of the country through the Gbaji operational centre of the service located along the Badagry and Seme international border route in Lagos State. This is a point where vehicles, luggage’s and travellers are duly examined before allowing onward commencement of movements in and out of the country.

Confirming this historic development to men of the noble pen profession (Journalists) at the agency’s administrative coordinating centre Seme border, the incumbent area controller, comptroller, D.A Nnadi applauded efforts of his operatives, which he said have been orientated to make patriotism their watch-word in their day to day operational engagements. Comptroller Nnadi explained that after a thorough search of the vehicle in question and its occupants, his dynamic and intelligent customs operatives successfully discovered the carefully hidden foreign currencies (Dollar Bills).

The Area Controller disclosed that when properly examined, the currencies (USA Dollar Bills) amounting to a whooping sum of Six Million Dollars were discovered to have been adulterated, faked and forged as they were bearing similar serial numbers.

According to him, the forged United States Legal Tender was being smuggled out of the country through Nigeria land border with Benin Republic via Seme and Badagry/Lagos international expressway. Reeling out his account of the exercise, comptroller Nnadi asserted that customs operatives under his area command at Seme stationed at its examination cum checking bay at Gbaji intercepted a vehicle and the occupants were found to be in possession of fake Six Million United States Dollar bills. Stressing that this kind of feat requires highly professionalised and eagle-eyed personnel to achieve.Lending credence to this achievement, the commands Public Relations Officer, Mr. Husseini Abdullahi, described the interception as a remarkable feat positioned to boost ease of doing business in Nigeria.

Abdullahi opined that by this development, indigenous business personalities and their foreign counterparts were bound to show and boost appreciable degree of compliance in trade dealings with the Nigeria customs service.

The officer in charge of customs operations at seme (O.C Operations), Mr. Dantani I. Abubakar warned the public and particularly the border users not to put his officers and men through unnecessary intelligence and professional test as they have been well-tutored as competent international trade facilitators.

According to him, officers’ professional policies were conceptualised, designed and implemented in a manner capable of actualising the positive requirements of the nation’s economy thereby effectively and efficiently boosting international trade and becoming dependable trade facilitators.

Expectedly, while the service is leaving up to expectations of the public via selfless performance, it is expected that the Federal Government will be forth coming with relevant supportive professionalism boosting packages as on-duty encouragement for these patriotic and result driven Nigerian customs service team.

There is also the need for Nigerians to ensure that everything humanly possible is brought to bear so as to create an enabling environment for these customs operatives to thrive. This will in-turn help garner efficient harmonious collaborations tailored towards positive result-oriented service delivery.

It could also be tagged a milestone achievement in view of the strategic nature of the international border route since, “this is indeed not a mere dress rehearsal but the real show”

Martins F.O. Ikhilae, a public affairs analyst, can be reached through [email protected] or Tel: 08023405821

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