Customs confirm planned destruction of expired IDP items

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The Nigeria Customs Service has confirmed the reports that some items meant for the Internally Displaced Persons have expired and will be destroyed.

Reports had emerged two days ago that 5,646 bags of 50kg foreign parboiled rice worth N124, 776, 600 seized by the Western Marine Command of the Nigeria Customs Service had expired in the command’s warehouse.

The expired bags of rice were said to have been allocated to the IDPs but had yet to be evacuated due to logistics problems.

The Controller of the Command, Boyiliya Binga, was reported to have said that some of the seized bags of smuggled rice had been in the Customs warehouse for close to two years and were no longer fit for consumption.

In addition to the rice, there were other items seized including vegetable oil, used shoes and clothing, among other items.

Binga said due to the massive seizures by the command, the warehouses were filled with goods and there was no space to accommodate more seized items.

He urged the states that were allocated items to IDPs in their states from the headquarters to mobilise and evacuate those items.

Other reports alleged that some items donated to the IDPs from various organisations were to be destroyed by the NCS because they had expired after remaining unclaimed from the ports for months.

Responding to the reports, the spokesperson for the NCS, Mr Joseph Attah, told our correspondent that before items were shared to the IDPs, the National Logistics Committee of the service usually carried out quality checks to determine if the items were fit for human consumption.

“The IDPs are human beings. It is not every seized items or every items that are donated that can just be distributed to them. NLC conducts checks first to determine if the items are fit for human consumption and if they are not, they are destroyed,” he said.

Meanwhile, reports had it that the IDPs in Maiduguri, Borno State took to the streets on Tuesday to protest extreme hunger and lack of shelter.


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