The Nigerian Custom Service has said that a bilateral electronic connectivity programme between Nigeria and Republic of Benin is being put in place which may see to the lifting of the ban on items coming through the land border.
This information was revealed by the Assistant Comptroller, Information and Communication Technology, Benjamin Aber who was speaking on behalf of the The Comptroller General, NCS, Col Hameed Ali (retd.) during a stakeholders’ meeting.
He said “Vehicles were formerly being imported through the Seme border, but suddenly it was banned because the pressure of enforcement of anti-smuggling for vehicles and claiming of lives and revenue were becoming too alarming, so the government had to restrict the importation through Nigerian ports.
“When vehicles came through the land border, we did not have a record of how the imported cars came here and fake documentation became a common phenomenon. The ban was just a control measure against the practice.”
He added, “By the time we successfully deploy this reliable, transparent and predictable programme that would assist government agencies, not only Customs, to control and regulate the importation of vehicles, the government may decide to relax such restrictions.”
Ali said the establishment of the automated platform and bilateral connectivity meant that any truck that left the Republic of Benin, the information would already be remotely sent in English to Nigeria Customs Service system.
