An Appeal Court court in Kaduna has barred the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) from impounding foreign rice in the open market or on highways.
In a judgment delivered on December 6, a three-member panel of justices led by Ntong Ntong held that existing laws restrict NCS’ enforcement to land borders only.
The judgment was delivered in an appeal filed by the NCS, against a decision of the federal high court that acquitted one Suleiman Mohammed, a businessman, of charges related to the importation of rice.
Customs had arrested Mohammed after seizing a truck carrying 613 bags of foreign rice and 80 bags of millet belonging to the businessman on June 14, 2019, along the Kaduna-Zaria expressway.
Mohammed was charged and arraigned on a two-count charge.
However, in a judgment delivered on November 10, 2021, Z. B. Abubakar, trial judge, acquitted the defendants of the charges.
Abubakar held that the plaintiffs (customs) failed to adduce enough evidence to prove that the defendant imported the goods.
The judge also held that there is no subsisting blanket ban on the importation of foreign rice as claimed by the plaintiffs.
“…the evidence led by the prosecution through PW1, PW2, PW3 and the Exhibits tendered has not established that the Defendant imported Exhibit ‘NCS B1-B612’. Even the investigation conducted by the complainant (Nigeria Customs Service Board) on Exhibit ‘NCS B1-B612,” the judge held.
“As a matter of fact, Exhibit ‘NCS D’ could not reveal who imported the said Exhibits or where they imported from.
“It should be borne in mind that importation of foreign rice is not absolutely or totally prohibited. It is only importation of the product through the land borders of this country that was proscribed by the Federal Government vide Circular No. NCS/TXT/1XE/045/S.416/VOL.1X of 18th March, 2016. The circular provided that foreign rice only be imported into the country through seaports.”
The trial judge held that the prosecution failed to show that the goods were imported through land borders, adding that “the said exhibits could have been imported through the seaport, and the court is entitled to presume so”.
Furthermore, the lower court held that “loading any foreign rice into a truck is not an offence under both Sections 46(b) and 47(1) (a) (ii) of Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) (Supra)”.
“It is the landing or unloading of goods or foreign rice at designated customs port CA/K/33/C/2022 or wharf that is prohibited by the aforementioned provisions of the Act,” the judge ruled.
