The Nigerian Customs Service has revealed that the state-of-the-art equipment installed at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, combined with the vigilance of its personnel, has made it increasingly difficult for smugglers to operate.
Controller Olarenwaju Abdulwahab Olumo, Custom Controller at the Lagos Free Trade Zone, disclosed this during an interview with our correspondent, following a visit by the NEPZA boss to the Lekki Deep Sea Port.
Olumo shared an instance where smugglers attempted to bring in two containers filled with Tramadol just a few weeks prior. However, their efforts were thwarted by the Customs’ vigilance.
According to Olumo, “We are very vigilant in the Port here. We gather intelligence and work on credible information to address any issues related to certain containers.”
“Apparently, bad players wanted to test our waters here, so we recognized that. Yes, we are strategically located and we have both good and bad players, but our interest is in the good players in the Deep Sea Port on the Free Trade Zone, and we are very supportive. We listen to their concern, whatever barriers I have always been letting them know our readiness to get them solved, he said.
Controller Olumo reserved a special greeting for the custom Controller General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi for enabling them with the necessary tool to work.
“The Controller General of customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi is not only a strategic thinker, but a very critical one who has been very passionate in promoting Trades and Investment. And this Free Trade Zone is an area that he does not take lightly. And drawing from his leadership we have been very very supportive of all our Investors who have taken the bold initiative in coming into Nigeria to invest in the Free Trade Zone,” Controller Olumo maintained.
The Lagos Free Trade Zone Controller explained how they have been able to fasttrack clearance of Cargoes in the Port.
“Our process in the Free Trade Zone has been a very smooth one. We have been able to streamline our processes, and our cargo clearance in the Free Zones and the sea ports has been very very thorough.
“We are blessed with excellent scanning machines possibly the best in the country, we have them here in the Free Trade Zone here. There is a time study that within hours numerous containers would have been checked. And anyone that there is suspicion we subject them to physical examination,” he stated.
The Lekki Deep Sea Port operates under the Free Zones scheme, a federal government initiative aimed at promoting industrialization and national economic development.
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