WASHINGTON: The Ogun Command of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has rolled out the release of e-auction vehicles to Nigerians who won the bid, in line with the policy of the top Customs Management, initiated by CGC Hameed Ali. The programme, which took place at Idiroko office of the Command was a huge success, as Nigerians who collected their vehicles expressed great pleasure on the transparent manner that the Service carried out the e-auction exercise.
Some of the beneficiaries who collected their vehicles at Ogun Command include a Police Officer, from Abuja, Mr. Charles Ivbeakharbokun, who won a new Toyota Corolla 2015 model, a public servant from Benin, Edo State, Mr. Francis Onaifo, won his own vehicle at N350,000 from the online bid price of N280,000, Mr, Desmond Osadolor, a car dealer in Benin city, went home with his own car and another beneficiary won a Sienna. According to Ivbeakharbokun, the bid price of his vehicle was N500.000, but he got it at N2.6million. He said, “The process was so transparent. I followed the procedures and did everything online and went to pay the money in the bank. From my experience, I can assure other Nigerians that the e-auction exercise is 100 percent transparent”.
Addressing Journalists at Idiroko, ACG Abueh Monday, who came all the way from Lagos to witness the programme enthused, “The process is quite transparent as you can see. We are here to witness what the Customs Commands were directed to do. Ogun is the first Command to start and others will follow accordingly.” In his remarks, the Customs Area Controller, CAC, Comptroller Sani Madugu, said, “Ogun as the pace setter Command is the first to kick-off the release of e-auction vehicles and you can see how efficient the whole process is. The Command is working tirelessly to curb smuggling within its area of coverage. We just intercepted 24 bags of Cannabis Sativa estimated at N20million, tokunbo vehicles, frozen poultry products and other prohibited items. Between May and June 2017, we generated N1.1billion revenue. We are working in synergy with Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) and other agencies of government to curb the nefarious activities of smugglers”.
