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By Johnson Adebowale
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, Apapa, Lagos, at the weekend, handed over a seized 1×200 container-load of substandard fire-resistant cables from China.
Customs Area Comptroller, Washishi Lami, while addressing the press, said the electrical products did not have any form of documentation and accreditation from any of the approved Federal Government product regulatory agencies, hence the seizure.
Said Washishi: “The importer’s documentation showed ‘regulator,’ but, upon examination, it was discovered that the containers had fire-resistant cables with ‘made in Nigeria’ written on it.
“We are holding the importer liable, first, for false declaration and, secondly, for bringing in a product from China with ‘made in Nigeria’ boldly written on it, even now that cable made in our country is adjudged as the best in the market.”
Washishi said the NCS was able to intercept the cable due to collaboration with other agencies.
The container-load of cables was handed over to the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for further investigation, in accordance with the provisions of the Customs and Excise Management Act, he said.
The comptroller urged stakeholders to engage in honest declaration, to enable Nigeria meet international standards.
Director, SON, Engr. Mathias Chike, representing the Director-General of SON, thanked the Customs for its efforts, while calling for more collaboration to curtail illicit imports.
He said: “SON will carry on further investigation on the product to determine its quality and we will get back to Customs on our findings.”
Meanwhile, the command, under the leadership of Wushishi, has announced an increase of 253.3 per cent in its revenue totalling N7, 392,424, 266 in the last six month, compared to the corresponding period of January to June, 2016, when it generated N2,092,671,108.
Wushishi enjoined importers and stakeholders at the ports to play their part by complying with all the extant laws and make truthful declarations.
