Nigeria Customs Service to deploy drones to borders to curb smuggling

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), says plans are ongoing to deploy drones and other technologically advanced facilities to the country’s borders in its bid to curb smuggling.

The Public Relations Officer of Customs, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi, said in Abuja that technology would help tackle the menace.

He said one of the major efforts in that regard was deploying “technology like drones, non intriusic inspection at the borders and a lot of other things that are in the pipeline.”

Bomodi said progress had been made with regard to the concession agreement or modernisation agreement with Huawei company and other technical partners in that regard.

According to him, the development will enhance the process of accessing potential danger as well as how to tackle them.

He said the need for deploying technology was paramount as the borders were too large to be fully covered by manpower.

“if you take everybody that presently works in the military and paramilitary to hold hands across all the borders in Nigeria, you will not be able to come up to ten per cent of our borders.

“That is how huge this country is and how tough the terrain which we operate is.

“However, we do know that when you introduce technology into the scheme of things, you are going to achieve a lot more.”

“It is the technology that will be deployed to support these individuals that will make the kind of impact we know will go a very long way.”

Funding

Speaking on securing funds for the service to deliver on its mandate, Bomodi said there was the need for more funding to expand its strategies to curb crime and generate more revenue.

“We are talking about innovation in the kind of service that we provide and it cost a lot of money.

“We are talking about the welfare of officers which comprises the provision of adequate accommodation, adequate transportation, proper offices and a myriad of other things.

“Even vehicles that help them operate under all kinds of terrains in all kinds of environment.

“All these things cost money and we cannot say no to that becuase the more we can get the more we will achieve,” he said.N

Nigeria has a landmass of more than 900,000 square kilometres, and shares boundaries with 15 countries.

Some of the countries are the Republic of Niger, Cameroon, the Republic of Benin and Chad Republic.

NAN/Hauwa Abu