The incessant extortion and bribery activities carried out by officials of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) across Nigerian airports have raised questions on Nigeria’s perceived efforts in fight against corruption.
International passengers have continued to narrate their ordeal in the hands of customs officials while passing through international airports in Nigerian, reiterating the need to rid the airports of corrupt personnel who have continued to drag the country’s name in the mud.
Passengers that arrive the country are often intimidated and forced to pay exorbitant amount on products for personal use bought in duty-free shops before they are cleared to leave the airports, and refusal to comply may amount to seizure of such items.
A recent case was one experienced by Adaeze Udensi, an executive director with Titan Bank and a former executive director at Heritage Bank, Nigeria, who took to social media to narrate her experience at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
According to Udensi, she arrived from London on October 18, 2019, at about 4.30am with one pair of trainers and one mini-boy bag bought at the duty free shop in Heathrow, and to her shock, customs officials at the Abuja airport headed by one Essien and Tijani Abdulrahman said these do not qualify as personal effects and calculated duty payment of about N175,000 for her to pay.
Udensi said: “Most shocking to me was that I was the only passenger on that flight BA 083 from London that was singled out for this treatment. My question now is: what are Nigerians able to buy when they travel? Essien says that Nigerians are only entitled to N50,000 worth of goods.
“Everything above N50,000 is considered luxury and dutiable. I pointed out to her that someone who had shoes had just been released by same customs without any charge, and to my shock she said that it’s because he put his feet in it already.
“So, I asked her that does it then mean that all I needed to do for this trainers not to be seized by Nigerian Customs was to simply remove it from the box and wear it and it seizes to be a luxury good and duty exempt?” She said “yes.”
“I told her that does this not then show her that this law enables her the opportunity to apply common sense when she sees Nigerians with just one trainers and one mini-boy bag? She refused to answer. I asked her to allow me put my feet in my trainers and if it’s not my size, apply duty and she refused.”
Udensi, who described Essien and Tijani Adulrahman as officials filled with hatred in such an airport that they refused to do the right thing, complained that she was one of the first 10 passengers to disembark from the aircraft and get to Customs, but was the very last person to leave the airport after her one pair of trainers and one mini boy bag had been seized.
“We must rise up and condemn this outrageous dimension by the Nigerian Customs. We must rise up against this tyranny as a people. Today it is Adaeze. Tomorrow, it could be you,” she said.
BusinessDay’s checks show that on the website of customs, customs are supposed to charge 5 percent VAT and 10 to 20 percent of import duty on commercial products bought not personal items.
However, the NCS in a statement yesterday said, “Upon routine search of this passenger’s luggage, operatives discovered a Loius Vuitton bag and shoe. Obviously, knowing the luxury brand (Loius Vuitton), she was asked to produce the receipt which will be the bases for duty calculation or not. She could not produce the receipt of what she claimed she bought at the duty-free shop at the point of departure, saying the receipt was with her husband who did not travel with her.
“The officers had to take the long route of ascertaining the current worth of her items through the internet. The luxury items were found to be worth N570,467.40k.
“Consequently, appropriate duty assessment of N165,692.25k was made and given to her to pay into Federal Government coffer. Since she could not immediately go and pay, a detention notice was given to her showing that the items will remain with the NCS until she pays and brings evidence of payment before they will be released to her.
“Instead of paying the assessed duty and pick up her items or request to see any superior officer should she have any reservation on the assessed value, she took to irresponsible use of the social media drawing all sorts of conjectures, gender (even when the officer, Ms Essien who attended to her is a lady), tribe, etc, and even inciting the public against the Service.
“Since her attempt to evade duty payment by refusing to produce receipt could not work, it appears convenient to transfer reluctance to pay tax into unnecessary public incitement.”
Meanwhile, other travellers have continued to react to her allegations. One Tunde Sonya says each time he travels and gets to the airport, he fights customs officials. “You must act like a tout otherwise they will extort you. Those people are petty thieves,” Sonya said.
In reaction to Udensi’s post, another traveller who craved anonymity, says, “This has been happening since last year; the experience at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos is even worse. Any aura of luxury is a crime in Nigeria. At MMIA, I was asked to pay N350,000 duty for a bag! We now wear the new bag and shoes and ‘box’ the old ones. That is the only way to escape the prying eyes of men and women of the Nigerian Custom Service,” the traveller states.
However, these issues are coming on the heels of President Muhammadu Buhari’s two key messages: improving the security environment and reviving the fight against corruption.
IFEOMA OKEKE
