More
revelations have continued to trail Great James Oil and Gas Limited, the firm
linked with the illegal importation of 1,580 guns into Nigeria. On September
11, the men of the Nigeria Customs Service intercepted a 20-foot container at
the Tin Can Island Port with 1,100 pump-action rifles concealed in wash basins.
Eight
days after this discovery, another container was found at the Tin Can Island
Port with 470 pump-action rifles concealed among small connecting pipes.
While
addressing journalists on the seizure, the Comptroller General of Customs, Col.
Hameed Ali (retd.), said the rifles were falsely declared as elbow plumbing
plastics.
He named
Great James Oil and Gas as the owner of the two containers and the firm that
imported the 1,580 guns from Turkey into the country.Ali had earlier hinted
that the pump-action rifles were written under product description on the
original bill of lading for the consignment, noting that the importer in
connivance with the clearing agent had doctored the documents when they got to
Nigeria. Searches by our correspondent had uncovered a Standards Organisation
of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme certificate issued to the importer.
The programme, involving a set of conformity assessment and verification
procedures applicable to all products imported into Nigeria, was introduced in
2005 by the Federal Government to address the challenges of incessant influx of
substandard and unsafe products into the country. The scheme, it was learnt,
was designed to ensure that imported products would meet the specifications of
acceptable standards for the protection of Nigerian consumers from unsafe and
substandard finished products. The SONCAP certificate is a mandatory document
required by the Customs for clearance of goods. Our correspondent observed that
the certificate with reference number IMP061711547S was issued to Great James
Oil and Gas Limited for the importation of non-cellular strip, a chemical used
as raw material in the manufacture of shoe soles.
The Head,
SONCAP, SON, Frank Onyeji, confirmed that the certificate was issued in June.
The
certificate listed the address of the importer as No. 1 Warehouse Road, Apapa,
Lagos.
On a
visit to the three-storey office complex in Apapa on Monday, our correspondent
was told that there was no company called Great James Oil and Gas in the
building. The receptionist at the gate also insisted that the firm had never
been an occupant of the building, which also houses a tax and logistics firm.
Reports
have linked three men, Ayogu Cyril, Ayogu Kelvin and Ayogu Great James with the
firm. They were said to have registered the firm as its directors on July 20,
2011 with a Corporate Affairs Commission registration certificate number RC
968675.
Source: Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment