The Controller General of
Customs Ahmed Alli, has said that the prohibition list of some imported items would help rescue Nigeria from recession.
The Customs boss stated this in Port Harcourt last week during a one-day interactive session with stakeholders in the South East and South South Zones to review the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA).
He said banning importation on some items was a fiscal policy and it was undertaken by the government specifically to encourage the growth of local industries.
“Banning of the importation of items is a fiscal policy and it is done and undertaken by government specifically in order to encourage our local industries”, he said.
According to him, the country could not afford to depend solely on importation, adding that there was need for the country to strive in improving its economy.
“We cannot totally depend on importation, we should be working hard to improve our economy and the only way we can do this is through industrialization, “if we do not encourage our own home producers, there is no way we can grow”, he said.
Alli disclosed that when the policy is approved, the customs would go ahead to implement.
He emphasized that if any items are banned, they remain banned and they would not be allowed to be imported into the country.
He also explained that when items are partially banned, the service will have no option but to also comply.
Alli who is a retired Army Colonel also revealed that the importation of rice into the country was being used by criminals to smuggle weapons into the country.
“We must understand that we have porous borders and we have a border of four thousand seventy kilometers that can not be covered inch-by-inch by anybody”, he said.
He said the Nigerian Customs was doing its best to make sure that importation of illicit or banned items was effected.
According to him one reason for stopping the importation of rice through the borders was because it has been discovered that through the importation of rice, arms are being stocked underneath the bags of rice and shipped into the country.
“We do not allow rice to come in so that you do not use it as the basis to import arms and we are working with our neighbours to make sure that arms and ammunition which is much more dangerous items do not get into the country through our borders”, he said.