Former
governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has accused the Nigeria Customs Service
(NCS) of subjecting Igbo travellers to hardship by seizing rice meant for
household consumption at its numerous
checkpoints in the region.
Obi said
this after he delivered a keynote address during the end-of-the-year meeting of
Diamond Brothers Club, at Oriental Hotel, Lagos, yesterday.
He told
newsmen that, some people visited him at his Onitsha home to complain about the
hardship on people because of countless Customs checkpoints on roads,
especially in the South-East.
Obi said to
have first hand information about the complaint; he travelled by road from
Lagos to Onitsha and described the situation as worrisome and
counter-productive.
Speaking
further, Obi wondered if the roads in Nigeria have become wharfs or borders to
warrant many Customs checkpoints.
“We know
that Customs police our borders to, among other things, guard against smuggling
of banned goods, but, if they do this effectively at the borders, as obtainable
in other countries, there would not be need for Customs checkpoints all over
the place.”
Obi said he
observed over 10 checkpoints from Ore to Onitsha and added that, in this time
of recession, what was more worrisome was that they stopped travellers and demanded
Customs papers, clearance papers for vehicles, including those bought several
years ago.
“Even
families going home for Christmas were stopped and the rice they were given as
gifts in their offices or bought in the open market was confiscated under the
presence that they were foreign rice.”
Obi appealed
to the Customs Comptroller General, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), “to look with
interest” at what is happening and “to completely overhaul their mode of
operations by targeting those importing banned goods at the borders and not
innocent Nigerians trying painfully to eke a living.”
He commended
Customs for their contributions to the growth and development of the country,
but argued that, “taking their checkpoints to places that have or have no need
of them is subjecting the people to
underserved hardship.
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