Group links increasing insurgency to cancellation of pre-shipment inspection under Dikko

The Social Integrity Network (SINET) has blamed incessant insurgency and armed banditry in the country on cancellation of pre-shipment inspection at the nation’s seaports by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Its National Coordinator, Ibrahim Isah, who stated this at a media briefing yesterday in Abuja, said the rising crime resulted from the cancellation of pre-shipment inspection during the tenure of former Comptroller General of Customs, Dikko Inde Abdullahi.

He said restoration of the policy would help in curbing illegal shipment of firearms into the country by crime merchants.

“With the benefit of hindsight, the escalation of insurgency began immediately after the cancellation of Pre-Shipment Inspection by the Customs under Dikko.

“Therefore, a quick win to counter insurgency is to restore Pre-Shipment Inspection to forestall many containers supposedly carrying legal items/goods of different kinds being loaded with dangerous weapons and brought into the country without adequate attention,” he said.

He also alleged that presently, little or no inspections are carried out on containers at the points of loading, thereby, subjecting Nigerians to serious threats and uncertainty.

Besides illegal weapons being shipped into the country without interception, Isah also accused the Customs and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) of negligence in curbing smuggling of substandard products into the country.

“The conspiracy being perpetrated by Customs officers and SON personnel with smugglers at the ports across the country is creating serious economic threat to local manufacturers, who have invested their lives through bank loans and sacrificing of their workers’ salaries.

“Many local industries have shut down their operations in recent times, while other existing ones are in the process of laying off over 20,000 workers, as released by industrialists nationwide,” he said.

He added that smuggling was responsible for the unending war against insurgency as smugglers import undisclosed items in the country unchecked at the ports and private jetties.

Isah also lamented that these attempts were frustrating President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts at restoring probity in the country because the carnage has led to high level of tax evasion in Nigeria.