Only drones can checkmate smuggling at Seme border - Customs

Abiola Seun

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), yesterday has devised new means to checkmate smuggling at the nation’s land borders.

Speaking yesterday at Seme border command, the Zonal coordinator, Zone A, Modupe Aremu, disclosed that the service will soon deploy drones at Seme for effective patrol in checking smuggling activities in the border area.

According to her, border management surveillance will be done electronically through the use of drones to ensure that there will be area overview of what is happening.

“Seme command visit is the end of my tour in Zone A and I must commend all the commands, they account for over 80 per cent revenue collection by the NCS and so they should keep up the good work.

“With the tour of all commands, I have seen that all the officers are doing well but they can still do better. And I am telling them that they should be expecting impromptu visits from the Zonal Coordinator, so they should not relax on the job.

“Also, e-customs’ N300 billion contract that is end-to-end automation that is about to kick-off is about Information and Communication Technology connectivity; when it comes on board, we are going to have electronic signature, drones patrolling the border,” she said.

She noted that the service was trying to minimize person to person contact to reduce human interaction and make the work faster and more efficient.

Aremu expressed satisfaction with the joint border post building that was commissioned on Oct. 23, 2018, noting that it ushered in an era of coordinated border management.

“This is one-stop-shop and from what the comptroller has shown me, it is what is practiced abroad; this is really commendable that what we see when we travel, we have it here in Nigeria,” she said.
She urged Seme Customs to keep abreast of all the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocols in order to understand what was happening.