NewStats: 3,265,510 , 8,187,021 topics. Date: Sunday, 15 June 2025 at 12:23 PM 3tl1z

The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, says it will soon deploy drones at Seme for effective patrol in checking smuggling activities in the border area.

NCS Zone A Coordinator, Modupe Aremu, an Assistant Comptroller General, ACG, of Customs, disclosed this on Monday during a working visit to Seme Border Area Command.

According to her, border management surveillance will be done electronically through the use of drones to ensure that there will be an area overview of what is happening.

“Seme command visit is the end of my tour in Zone A and I must commend all the commands, they for over 80 per cent revenue collection by the NCS and so they should keep up the good work.

“With the tour of all commands, I have seen that all the officers are doing well but they can still do better. And I am telling them that they should be expecting impromptu visits from the Zonal Coordinator, so they should not relax on the job.

“Also, e-customs’ N300 billion contract that is end-to-end automation that is about to kick-off is about Information and Communication Technology connectivity; when it comes on board, we are going to have electronic signature, drones patrolling the border,” she said.

She noted that the service was trying to minimize person to person to reduce human interaction and make the work faster and more efficient.

Mrs Aremu expressed satisfaction with the t border post buildings that was commissioned on Oct. 23, 2018, noting that it ushered in an era of coordinated border management.

“This is one-stop-shop and from what the comptroller has shown me, it is what is practiced abroad; this is really commendable that what we see when we travel, we have it here in Nigeria,” she said.

She urged Seme Customs to keep abreast of all the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, protocols in order to understand what was happening.

On enforcement activities, she urged the command to keep pushing as the nation at this point in time needed the service to properly secure its borders.

She expressed the hope that the scanner at the border would start functioning to help simplify processes as much as possible.

She urged the command to ensure proper compilation of case files and prosecution of arrested suspects to show the seriousness of the service in fighting smuggling.

Earlier, Seme Customs Comptroller, Bello Jibo, noted that enforcement activities were not affected by the border closure as the command made remarkable interception of 1244 suspected smuggled goods with a duty paid value of over N856 million.

He noted that despite unfriendly economic policies imposed on goods transiting through Benin Republic, the command was able to collect about N719 million as revenue and processed export volume of 635,149.23 metric tons with free on board value of N15.5 billion.

“The command has a very good understanding with host community and in cementing this relationship, the command built and handed over a modern toilet facility to the Badagry West Development Area and partnered with an NGO to equip the Badagry United Football Club.

“Some projects undergoing work or completed in the command are: 16 classrooms for primary school, construction of 30-man rank and file quarters and others.

“The challenges faced has to do with ICT interconnectivity at the t Border Patrol, g of bilateral agreement, connection of the barracks to the national grid and inadequate junior staff,” he said
NAN

https://dailynigerian.com/nigerian-customs-deploy-drones/

What happen to nothern borders,Aboki and wayo

To track idps fleeing from south west to Bene republic. Not a bad initiative.

Lalasticlala

What exactly will the drones be looking for??

Always making live difficult in the south as our leaders watch helplesly.

But Abokeys border arms and ammunition is coming in like breeze

One nijeria

Okay but northern borders will continue to remain porous and welcoming to all terrorists abi?

They know what they are doing. They want to employ drones so that when the impending war starts and people want to flee to neighboring Benin Republic, they will be swiftly apprehended and forced back into Nigeria. How come they are not flying drones in the northern borders considering all the terrorist and bandit activities going on in that part of the country? Nigerians are not ready for what is coming to them in the coming months.

they should deploy it in sambisa,so that those boko boys should stop killing our boys.

What of Niger border

All these while you can smuggle a platoon of elephants through the highly unmanned and unchecked northern borders..

They should fix their concentration more on the Northern borders!!
Northern borders are too porous that even an unorganized dancing carnival of mad people can cross into the country through the northern border without any hindrance.

Drones that government could not deploy to combat terrorism in the north but it is a welcome development to check smugglers in the south. Misplaced priorities.

Good luck to them.

What the slain soldiers should be doing at sambisa

They have found another way on how to misappropriate our money again

Drones wey go only work for the first week

good one..i just hope its successfully used, and money not embezzled...

Good morning nairalander


Jesus love you, he want you to repent from your sins so as not to perish on that last day.

Jesus is the way to the father.

Jesus saves

The northern border are open to all manners of terrorist from Afghanistan,Libya,chad,etc. Why not send the drones to northern borders so keep in check the movement of the terrorist.

Jokes apart, this shit is so not funny at all, that it became funny in a laughable way

This drone thing is just a wash mouth ...deep down inside her she knowns is Not going to be actualize..just an imagination..and if it manifest no problem same we be use in Northern border period...We are watching very closely

Shior!

We all know the drones will be deployed, it will work for a month or two and afterwards iu won't see the drones in the sky and u wing get an explanation for it.....millions of naira budgeted for it will go down the drain and smuggling activities it was supposed to check will continue as usual.

Early this year there was a programme on Nigerian info radio that talked about problems faced in clearing cargo at the ports. In that programme the presenter shared facts that showed computerized scanners were acquired by the customs towards the end of janathan dispensation to scan containers.....these scanners while in operation made clearance of cargo at the port really fast because it scans cargo really fast...

However, because of selfishness of those in customs and the syndicate they have in ground for the normal physical offloading and unloading of containers before it's scanned physically ( for a fee obviously), they sabotaged this process and so we are back to the old system

In essence, this whole drone story na cruise.....things will still go back.to how it used to be after one or two months.

That's the Nigeria u live in

Misplaced priority, deploy those drones to the sambissa forest

In a developing countries, they don't tell citizens, but do the needful, but here empty noise while they connive to sihpon the money budget for the drones and back to square one.

Another way to embezzle funds.,. Same old same old.

Please I need a room self kon around Ogba and it environs... Abeg inno get money for agreement and commission..help a sis.. transport fare is taking all my salary... I don lose weight sef coz of stress...

AntiBMC:
Okay but northern borders will continue to remain porous and welcoming to all terrorists abi?

Same way the eastern borders will remain porous and welcoming to Cameroonian seperatists that are d with ipob abi......

And still use it to collect bribe

...but northern borders are free.

dasparrow:
They know what they are doing. They want to employ drones so that when the impending war starts and people want to flee to neighboring Benin Republic, they will be swiftly apprehended and forced back into Nigeria. How come they are not flying drones in the northern borders considering all the terrorist and bandit activities going on in that part of the country? Nigerians are not ready for what is coming to them in the coming months.

How come the drones are not deployed to the eastern bordes too....considering thats where ipob d Cameroonian seperatists will come in through....who knows if thats how UGM ESN escapes

owobokiri:
All these while you can smuggle a platoon of elephants through the highly unmanned and unchecked northern borders..

Like you could smuggle a blue whale through eastern borders abi

God will punish the custom and the operators of this drone, why not deploy the drone to Sambisa and to check the activities of bandits terrorizing innocent citizens.Awon weyrey dede. Trying to cripple the economy of the south and their own Northern borders are free for all.