The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has donated 421 trailers of rice totalling 252,666 bags valued at N3.78 billion to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the last 22 months.
Explaining the reasons behond the kind gesture, Joseph Attah, a Deputy Comptroller and the Public Relations Officer explained that the donations were in line with a Presidential directive on the disposal of perishable seizures after due diligence of court condemnation.
He said that the donations were made in four states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Edo.
Attah said that the donations were carried out by the National Logistics Committee consisting of members from NCS, the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force, Nigeria Police Force and the Federal Road Safety Commission.
Others are: Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, National Food and Drug Administration and Control, Nigerian Television Authority, News Agency of Nigeria, Nigeria Union of Journalists and the Red Cross.
The NigerIan Custom Service also donated 82,140 jerrycans of 25-litre vegetable oil valued at N985.6 million, soap worth N52.6 million in 19,491 cartons and other items including clothes.
Attah said that other goods were insecticides, foot wears, bags and 1 x40ft container of frozen tilapia fish.
He said that sustained Customs anti-smuggling efforts had kept the service warehouses filled with seizures in spite of the various donations made by the service to IDPs.
“In spite of the tonnes of rice and other relief items already transferred to the IDPs, some NCS warehouses are still filled with rice.
“This only shows that the sustained onslaught against unrepentant rice smugglers continues to yield positive results.
“The ones in the warehouses now are either awaiting court condemnation or forfeiture to the Federal Government or have already been allocated to governments of the affected states, who paid the Army Corps of Transport and Logistics for transportation of the goods to the IDPs.
“Eventually, the seized rice and other perishable items presently in the warehouses will be given to fellow Nigerians affected by the unfortunate insurgency in the North East.’’
MIKE OCHONMA
