Customs acquires two new sea going vessels, to arrive Nigeria January 2024

.. Group of Nine, Customs Pride to sail in 40 days – Controller WMC

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it has acquired two new sea going vessels from Singapore to boost its anti smuggling operations on the nation’s waterways and on the high sea.

Controller, Western Marine Command of the NCS, Comptroller Odaudu Salefu who disclosed this during a chat with journalists in his office on Monday said the vessels are expected to arrive the country by January 2024.

He said the Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adenityi has also directed Portplus Limited, the consultant managing the two abandoned vessels earlier acquired by the Service – “Group of Nine’ and ‘Customs Pride’ to ensure that the vessels sail by November.

Recall that the vessels were acquired in 2015 during the late CGC Abdulahi Inde Dikko- led management but were abandoned at the Marina Jetty eight years after they were acquired.

Speaking on why the vessels were not deployed for more than eight years, Comptroller Salefu explained that there were contractual issues with the Customs and Portplus Limited as the late CG did not handover the contractual documents of the vessels including debts owed to the immediate past Customs administration led by Hameed Ali.

According to him, ” Portplus could not write about outstanding money we were owing them because the immediate past CG, Hameed Ali said nothing was handed over to him. That was why the issue lingered for long.”

Comptroller Salefu disclosed that the Service spent an average of N23′.7 million in 2021 on maintenance of the vessels.

He explained that there are also space challenge for the vessels at the Naval dockyard for dry docking but noted that they are considering an alternative option with Niger Dock while plans are underway by the Service to get a permanent jetty to berth the vessels.

“Since the appointment of the CG of Customs, the first place the CGC visited was the Western Marine command to inspect the two ocean going vessels. We received him as early as 7am and he asked questions about the state of the vessels. He asked how much it would cost to get the vessels operational within 30 days, the consultant gave an outrageous bill but the CGC gave a marching order that the vessels should start sailing within 40 days.

“I wrote three correspondents to Portplus but it took them two weeks to respond, Later they explained that they were at the headquarters in Abuja trying to re-enter the contract.

“As at last week, I had a meeting for over three hours with the consultant and they announced to me that they have been re-awarded the contract. It is however, important to correct the claim that the vessels were acquired for N180 billion. That is not correct. I will provide the total cost of the contract and maintenance as soon as I receive the official copies but the CGC has given them a marching order to deliver the vessels before the end of November,” he said.

Comptroller Salefu who lauded the efforts of the Adeniiyi-led Customs management to improve the anti smuggling operation of the marine command said since he came onboard as Controller, 15 gun boats have been provided by the Customs management.

He said with about 180 officers presently in the workforce of the command, more officers will be needed to man the vessels adding that the Service is also partnering with the Navy to train and retrain more officers.

He disclosed that three officers of the command have been sent to Singapore for specialized training in preparation to receive the new vessels

“We are compiling a list of another group to also go to Singapore or South Korea for more training. I have also received a marching order for training and retraining. Portplus and the Navy have been asked to liaise with us to pick officers that were previously trained on floating and safety and assemble them for retraining.

“Ever since the CGC came on board, the marine command is receiving one the highest attention in terms of training and retraining,” he said.

Comptroller Salefu said with the acquisition of additional vessels and training of its personnel, the command will be better positioned to curtail smuggling on the nation’s waterways.

“Presently, we are using a 40 horsepower engine to go over 100 nautical miles in the water. Recently, we caught over 120 sacks of Indian Hemp far into the sea and presently, we have over 20 sacks arrested and huge quantities of tramadol last week far into the ocean. This was done through the bravery of my officers. If we can go to the oceans over 140 nautical miles, when we have the vessels, I can assure that we go as far as 300 nautical miles,” he said.