Nigerian customs bonded area crackdown after ports boss jailed

LAGOS's Duncan's Bonded Terminal has been shut down following the diversion of five TEU and another 12 boxes seized as contraband in recent weeks by the Nigeria customs' Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A.

This comes after the jailing of Olabode George for corrupt dealings while chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

FOU Zone A comptroller Musa Tahir said all activities at the terminal had been stopped following a directive from national customs chief Abdullahi Dikko, reported the Lagos Daily Trust.

Mr Tahir said the behaviour of escort officers was to be investigated to determine whether there were cases of culpability and a need for disciplinary measures.

Bonded terminals, he said, would be monitored by customs and that offenders would be dealt with. Thus far customs has made 143 seizures of goods valued at N132 million (US$870,000) and eight arrests of alleged smugglers.

In a parallel development, the ex-NPA chairman, an ally of the former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, was convicted of inflating contracts and squandering public funds amounting to US$500 million with his five other board members, who were also convicted.

Mr George entered the court smiling before his conviction, said UK's Trade Wind magazine. He will be appealing his conviction, it added.

(Source: www.schednet.com)