Customs Release 15 Trucks Of Seized Food Items

The Nigeria Customs Service, Sokoto/Zamfara Area Command, has released 15 seized trucks of grains in its command to the owners.

This development was announced in a statement on Tuesday by the Public Relations Officer of the command, Abdullahi Abubakar.

Abubakar said the development was in compliance with the Presidential directive.

Recall that President Tinubu, over the weekend directed the NCS to return all food items that were confiscated at border communities to owners on the condition that they would be sold in the Nigerian markets to boost food sufficiency.

However, the Customs Area Comptroller in charge of the command, Kamal Mohammed, while handing over the trucks of grain at the command’s headquarters in Sokoto, charged the traders to reciprocate President Bola Tinubu’s magnanimity by ensuring that the grains were sold to Nigerian markets.

Kamal added that the command, in collaboration with the Customs Intelligence Unit and the Joint Border Patrol Team, “would monitor the sales of these grains in Nigerian markets and ensure they were not smuggled out of the country.”

He further enlightened traders and the general public that grains are under the extant Export Prohibition list.

The Comptroller warned smugglers to desist from smuggling grains.

He added that the service has resolved to fight smuggling in all ramifications.

Kamal said that the command would make the borders unsafe heaven for smugglers, “unpatriotic elements penchant to make money at the detriment of the country.”

In response, the Secretary of the Grain Sellers Association of Sokoto, Dahiru Ladan, thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for tempering justice with mercy.

He assured the president that the union would ensure that the grains were sold to Nigerian markets.