The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS has denied any involvement in fraudulent activities or underhand dealings in the e-auctioning of vehicles or other goods.
The Service in a statement signed by its National Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Maiwada in Abuja on Saturday was in response to a petition to the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi by the 100% Compliance Team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF with the tittle, “The Monumental Stealing By The Customs Auction Committee And Their Plans To Dispose-Off Overtime Containers” and widely reported in the media.
Maiwada explained that the NCS Auction Committee operated within the confines of the law and adhered strictly to established guidelines and procedures for disposing of seized/overtime goods.
He described the allegation that over 300 vehicles had been auctioned to just one individual via the e-auction window after purported underhand payments as entirely false, misguided, and spurious adding that suggesting that a token sum of N10,000 was collected as duties to the Federal Government on the e-auction window, which according to him, had a reserved price of N400, 000 was misleading and misrepresentation of fact.
“From the data generated upon completing five successful bidding windows,13,605 applicants registered in five windows on our e-auction portal, where 476 vehicles were uploaded, and 462 won. Also, the government realized N556,738,736 as revenue. It begs the question of where the allegations are coming from”, he said.
Describing as disheartening, the serious allegations regarding the integrity of the ongoing e-auction process designed to provide a level playing ground for all Nigerians, the Customs spokesman said, “The NCS is a law-abiding government organization dedicated to maintaining the most outstanding levels of accountability and transparency in all its activities and taking any accusations of improper behaviour seriously.
“We wish to reaffirm our commitment to transparency, accountability, and adherence to the rule of law in all our activities. We urge members of the public to join the service with the common goal of promoting an inclusive system that is fair to all Nigerians, irrespective of their status.”
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