…As NBS urges FG to use performance in allocating revenue to States***

Nigeria Customs Service  (NCS) Comptroller-General, retired Col. Hameed Ali on Thursday stated that the Apapa Command of the Service intercepted 40 × 40ft containers of pharmaceutical products which included Tramadol, with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N7.31 billion.

Ali who disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Lagos also noted that the feat was achieved as a result of the vigilance, intelligence gathering within the system, as well as information from the National Agency for Foods, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), a strong ally of the NCS.

It would be recalled that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recently said it uncovered 340 million Tramadol tablets in 12 containers at the Apapa Port in Lagos, out of about 79 containers suspected of containg prohibited imports; comprising of tablets in various dosages, ranging from 120 milligrammes to 250 milligrammes, recovered from at the Port.

“I commend the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye and her management team for their collaboration in the attainment of the interception.

“It is indeed worrisome to note that there are Nigerians who are ready to make money at the expense of human lives by bringing in such quantity of drugs that have grave consequences on health and national security”, Hamid indicated, adding that the importers also offered stupendous bribes, which his officers arrrsted the suspects along with.

“In the criminal desperation, importers of these items offered bribes to the tune of N150 million to my officers to effect the release of just one 40ft container with promises of even bigger sums to follow in the event that their attempt succeeds.

“The officers played along and eventually arrested three suspects with the money,” Ali said, reiterating that the ongoing interception of Tramadol and other dangerous pharmaceutical products with the $412,000 bribe and the three suspects would be thoroughly investigated, to bring all those remotely connected to justice.

The Comptroller-General said officers of the Apapa command and the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, turned down $412,000 worth of bribe money offered them.

Speaking further, Ali also said that Apapa command, within the same period, seized two aircraft, a helicopter with Registration number SN-BLI which was slated for export, inside a container number PONU7789246, and falsely declared as 388 bags of cashew nuts, in a gesture that violated section 36 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), Cap C45, LFN 2004.

Stressing that the rightful owner was already being investigated, the CGC highlighted that the second aircraft, a Cesena 182A imported from the U.S. andwas declared through SGD NO. C130308 was equally impounded because the owner failed to present End User Certificate from the office of the National Security Officer and approval from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.

According to him, this is a contravention of Section 46 of CEMA, Cap C45, LPN 2004.

“We are all aware of the dangers that the deliberate non-compliance with import and export procedures pose to our nation as importers bring in all manner of items which put the security and health of the nation at great risk.

“Terrorists, kidnappers and other criminal elements get hold of these uncustoms goods such as controlled drugs to perpetrate their heinous activities”, he indicated, commending the Commander, NNS Beecroft Naval Base Apapa, Commodore Eyo as well as Commissioner of Police, Western Marine Command and his men for providing enabling environment.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has urged the Federal Government to use performance through the measurement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) instead of population to allocate revenue to states of the federation.

The call was made by Statistician General of the Federation, Mr Yemi Kale, while declaring open a public lecture to commemorate the 2018 African Statistics Day in Abuja on Thursday; an event usually commemorated on November 18.

Kale was represented by Mr Isiaka Olanrewaju, a Director and Programme Analyst at the NBS in Abuja.

“We should stop using only the population to allocate revenue to states; rather, performance through measurement of Sustainable Development Goals in relationship with Nigeria should be used.”

He also urged relevant agencies in Nigeria to provide government with a comprehensive, reliable and timely data to ensure the formulation of policies and monitoring of key government programmes.

He charged users, producers and suppliers of statistics in Nigeria to take advantage of the occasion to re-engineer their efforts in the production and usage of high quality statistics.

He said that several methods of generating quality data should be explored to enable Nigeria join the comity of nations with well-developed statistics.

“Development statistics at all levels requires that all hands must be on deck and we are determined to achieve this in the nearest possible time,” Kale said.

However, Mr Alphonsus Onwuemeka, the Food and Agricultural Organisation’s (FAO) Programme Officer, who represented FAO’s Country Representative in Nigeria, Suffyan Koroma, decried the quality of data generated by various agencies of the Nigerian government.

He said a lot of such data being generated in Nigeria were not harmonised and therefore not useful to end users.

“The challenge facing Nigeria (data) is brought about by officials and statistical systems that are less optimal.”

“(Tue data) are very weak, uncoordinated, and largely in-effective in meeting the needs of policy makers, investors, citizens, and international bodies that requires accurate, reliable and timely data and information for informed decisions”.

He said FAO had been collaborating with various agencies of the government in meeting the SDGs, especially Data Management System at both the national and sub-national levels.

“We are also strengthening institutions responsible for data generation and dissemination processes,” he said.

Prof. Danladi Atu, Director-General, APUDI Institute for Peace and Social Rehabilitation was the Guest Speaker at the occasion.

Keynote speakers and special guests included Ms. Temilade Aromolaran, the UNICEF Social Policy Specialist and Mr Greg Nzekwu, representing the European Union.

Others were Dr Reuben Bamidele, National Programme Officer, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Regional Office in Abuja and Abul Azad, an Economist with the World Bank.