Posted by Babatunde Oke on
The Federal Operations Unit of the Nigerian Customs Service, Zone A, on Tuesday, destroyed seized textile materials worth N1.26billion.
The Federal Operations Unit of the Nigerian Customs Service, Zone A, on Tuesday, destroyed seized textile materials worth N1.26billion.
The offloading of the textiles, which started at about 10am and did not end until 6.30pm, were transported in 11 trucks to the Sagamu Dump site, Ogun State, where they were destroyed.
The items destroyed, which followed a similar one worth about N200million at Abeokuta dump site two months ago, included bundles of lace materials, head ties, jeans trousers and shirts, towels, underweat, bales of second-hand clothing, suiting materials and guinea brocade.
The Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai, and the Comptroller-General of the NCS, Mr. Buba Gyang, supervised the destruction of the textile materials.
Speaking at the event, el-Rufai said government's efforts to revive the nation's textile industry would continue until the war against smuggling was won.
He said, 'It is clear that the exercise will continue as we are committed to ensure that the textile industry in the country is revived.
'We discovered that the more we ban, the more the importers indulge in this dastardly act, but we will not be discouraged."
He said the government had considered various options, such as dumping of seized goods in the sea or sending them to places like Darfur, Sudan, where they will be needed, but discovered that burning was the best option.
'We have considered every available option and we discovered that burning is the best. If we apply other options, the goods may still end up in some people' hands and in effect find their way back to the market," he said.
Rufai advised political leaders, especially the executive arm of the government, to patronise locally-made fabrics, so as to encourage local manufacturers and create more jobs.
Gyang expressed the readiness of the Customs to pursue the Federal Government's policies of reviving the economy.
He said the burnt textile materials were only a fraction of those seized by the FOU at the nation's seaports. especially Tin Can Island and Apapa ports, adding, 'We still have about 65 containers of seized textile materials in our warehouse."
The burning, he said, was to discourage illegality and to serve as deterrent to importers who engaged in smuggling.
He said, 'These importers should not turn Nigeria into a lawless country. It will serve as a lesson to make them conform to the laws and the prohibitions.
'From the spate of the seizures we are making, the smuggling rate is still high, but with the help of other security agencies, especially the Police, we will contain it at the long run."
The Punch, Thursday, October 06, 2005