The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Thursday begin the handover of vehicles to the first set of winners of its electronic auction of overtime and condemned cargoes at Idiroko border in Ogun State.
Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in-charge of Zone A, Lagos, ACG Monday Abueh who supervised the handover of vehicles to successful bidders told journalists that the sservice was ccommitted to ensure a transparent process in the entire exercise.
Abueh said that the bidding and the processes leading to the determination of tthe successful bidders would continue to be devoid of interference by customs officers and their relations in line with the guidelines.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Ogun Command, Comptroller Sani Madugu informed that the first set of winners were taking their vehicles from his command because seizures from Ogun command were the first to be uploaded on the portal.
Madugu observed that the Comptroller -General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) and the Management team approved the process as a continuous one and that winners of other bidding rounds would be receiving items won from other command where they were seized, domiciled or warehoused.
He ssaid that one of the vehicles won, a Toyota Corolla, 2015 mmodel was brand new and was delayed in customs control after seizure because of the due diligence of court condemnation and approved time for auction.
”We seized this 2015 model Corolla as a brand new vehicle because duty was not paid and attempts were being made to smuggle it into Nigeria. What you see on it is dust due to the long period it was parked”, he said.
A cross-section of winners who spoke to newsmen could not hide their joy at receiving their bidded cars even as they described the entire process as fair and transparent enough.
A serving police officer based in Abuja, Charles Ivbeakharbokun who won a brand new 2015 model Toyota Corolla for N2.6m said he got to know about the customs electronic auction through twitter and within a period of one hour he was able to perfect his bidding using Jaiz Bank for his electronic wallet funding.
He described his car as perfect and in good working condition.
Another winner, Aminu Gidado, a geologist based in Benin City won a 2002 Sienna space car for N300,000.
Gidado while appllaying the electronic auction however expressed worries that some bidders in the second round were using what he called ‘high price’ to scare other bidders away.
According to him,” It is fantastic.I got to know about it in a whatsapp group. I just tried and succeeded in winning this vehicle. I am very happy about it. I tried again in the second bidding but discovered that some bidders are trying to hijack it with high price”.
It will recalled the Comptroller-General of Customs recently launched the electronic auction in Abuja while pointing out that the new initiative would increase federal government revenue aa well as decongest the ports.
The Customs boss noted that the electronic auction bidding process replaced the manual process of auctioning cars believed to becharacterized by fraud and malpractices.
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