The Port Harcourt Area II Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Onne, Rivers State, has intercepted 56 containers containing contraband goods with a combined duty-paid value of N5.53bn.
The seized consignments include vegetable oil, used clothing and foreign tomato paste, which Customs officials said were illegally imported into the country through the Onne Free Trade Zone.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this on Tuesday during a press briefing in Onne. He also led journalists on an inspection of the seized containers at the Onne Wharf.
Adeniyi criticised the alleged abuse of concessions granted by the Federal Government to businesses operating in free trade zones.
He explained that the government established special economic zones, free zones and free trade zones to promote local production, with some focused on exports and others on domestic manufacturing.
According to him, operators in the zones enjoy incentives and waivers, including duty-free importation of plants, raw materials and machinery, to support their operations.
However, the Customs chief said the service had, in recent years, raised concerns over the misuse of these concessions, with some importers allegedly bringing goods into the country under the cover of free trade zone privileges before diverting them to the local market.
Adeniyi said the seized vegetable oil and used clothing were imported in violation of Sections 55 and 233 of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023.
He said intelligence gathering and risk-based profiling of importers operating through the Onne ports revealed a pattern of abuse of free zone concessions.
According to him, Customs discovered that 45 containers of Delicious Pur vegetable oil had been imported by operators in the free zone. Each container contained 1,050 25-litre jerry cans, with a combined duty-paid value of N4.2525bn.
The containers had reportedly been declared as carrying machinery and spare parts.
“During physical examination, we discovered vegetable oil. It is obvious that the intention of the importer was not to take them to free trade zones for any manufacturing activities, but to introduce them into our local markets,” Adeniyi said.
He added that the command also seized nine 40-foot containers of used clothing valued at N1.045bn in duty-paid terms.
Two additional 20-foot containers containing foreign tomato paste, with a duty-paid value of N232m, were also intercepted.
The Customs chief said the seizures underscored the need to strengthen monitoring and enforcement around the concessions granted to operators in Nigeria’s free trade and economic zones.
