The Nigeria Customs Service has begun the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States “Protocol on Transit” to check the smuggling of vehicles.
Ernest Olottah, the Public Relations Officer of NCS, Seme Command, made the fact known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday.
Olottah said that the ECOWAS protocol was to ensure mutual assistance in customs matters for better control over normal trade and more efficient control against smuggling by member countries.
He said that the protocol would also enable customs authorities of member countries to ensure safe delivery of goods on road transit to the authority of the receiving country.
He said: “It allows the transportation of goods by road from one customs office in a member state to another customs office in another member state through one or more member states free of duties, taxes and restrictions while in transit.
“Such goods shall be accompanied with a set of customs documents and shall not be off-loaded or transferred while in transit.”
According to Olottah, the implementation of the protocol will go on with the successful implementation of the 35 per cent duty on imported vehicles by the service.
He said the service had completely suppressed smuggling at the borders, adding that the Comptroller-General of NCS, Dikko Abdullahi, had directed all controllers to implement the protocol effectively.
He said: “This now allows the vehicles that could have ordinarily been smuggled to be delivered directly to customs.
“The implementation of the protocol will discourage smuggling, enhance revenue collection and security in trans-border operations.”
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