Idiroko Customs seize N1.79bn worth of contraband in 2024

...As Ogun 2 Command Generates N33.24Bn Revenue in 2024, N6.93Bn In 2025 Q1

The Idiroko command of the Nigerian Customs Service said it was able to seized smuggled goods with duty paid value of N1.7 billion in 2024, inspite of operational challenges.

The Area Comptroller in the area, Mohammed Shu’aibu told the House of Representatives Committee on Customs and excise visited the command on an oversight visit the assorted Contraband goods were confiscated from the smugglers in 1,346 seizure operations.

He also said that one of the major challenge faced by the command is the complicity by those he called criminal elements among the border communities in smuggling activities

He further added that, the Command had also seized contrabands with a DPV of N291.4 million in 161 seizure operations in the first quarter of 2025.

Some of the seized items include; 18,544 bags of imported rice weighting 50Kg each, 145,478 litres of PMS,940 rounds of Ammunition, 586 bales of used clothing, 87 vehicles used for the conveyance for illicit goods, 27 foreign used vehicles (tokumbo), 760 pieces of Donkey Skin, 2645 cartons of frozen poultry product, 1,642 coconut sized wraps of Cannabis Sativa, 85 bags of imported flour, 37 bags of imported Sugar, 40 Cartons of Foreign Wine, 3,249 pieces of used Pneumatic tyres, 6 units of motorcycles.

He said “the first quarter of 2025 has not caught us resting on our laurels. Deploying intelligence driven operations, we have recorded 161 seizures with a DPV of Two Hundred and Ninety-One Million, Four Hundred and Ninety-Three Thousand, Five Hundred and Sixty-One Naira (N291,493,561).

“Some of the items seized include; 7,242 bags of imported rice weighting 50Kg each,20,500 litres of PMS, 3,699 wraps of Cannabis Sativa, 843 pieces of used tyres, 2 Dane Guns, 2 Sacks of Cowries and 7 million CFA”.

The Comptroller said the revenue generated as at the first quarter of 2025 was N43.41 million which he said was 17.39% increase from the corresponding quarter of 2024 which he said was N35.806 million.

Also, the Comptroller of Ogun 2 command in Abeokuta, AOB Alade told the committee that it so far generated about N6. 9 billion in the first three months of 2025 out it a target of N43. 2 billion for the 2025 financial year.

He said,”The Command successfully generated a total revenue of N33,244,222,607.55 (Thirty Three Billion, Two Hundred and Forty Four Million, Two Hundred and Twenty Two Thousand, Six Hundred and Seven Naira, Fifty Five Kobo) in the year 2024.

“The revenue target for the year 2025 is N43,200,000,000 (Forty Three Billion, Two Hundred Million Naira). So far, the Command has generated N6,930, 447,673,.90 (Six Billion, Nine Hundred and Thirty Million, Four Hundred and Forty Seven Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy Three Naira, Ninety Kobo)”.

But Alade earned the wrath of members of the committee with his shoddy response to questions from the lawmakers, especially when he was asked about the five companies he said were recently registered and what happened to the duties they were supposed to pay.

Responding to the question, the comptroller told them that backlog of duties left unpaid by five companies which he said were recently discovered may not be recovered.

When asked if the companies he said were recently registered were discovered to have been operating illegally, he said “our monitoring team is always going round. They discovered the companies which has been operating illegally.

” We don’t know when they started operating. So, we may not recover the money”.

Chairman of the committee, Leke Abejide told the Comptroller that it is not acceptable to say that the money cannot be recovered from companies that operated illegally from in the country.

An angry committee however asked the comptroller to report to the National Assembly within the shortest possible time with relevant records of the operation of the command which was said to have been created in 2019.

In his separate remarks at the two Area Commands at Ogun 1, Idiroko and Ogun 2 Area Command, Abeokuta, Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Leke Abejide said that, they came to the Commands as part of its oversight of the Customs Zone A Lagos which also covers Ogun State Area Commands and others.

Tony Akowe