In a decisive move to tighten oversight on pharmaceutical imports, Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, has ordered that pharmaceutical products must no longer be cleared through bonded terminals. Instead, they are to be processed directly at major entry points including Apapa Port, Lagos Airport, and Port Harcourt Port.
This directive follows the recent closure of three bonded terminals in Apapa over regulatory violations linked to pharmaceutical cargo. Addressing stakeholders during the official handover of 25 containers of unregistered and prohibited drugs to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the CGC emphasized the heightened sensitivity of pharmaceutical imports and the abuses observed in their handling.
He issued a stern warning to transport companies, haulage operators, bonded terminal owners, and other trade facilitators that any complicity in smuggling or regulatory breaches will result in severe consequences, including the revocation of operating licenses.
CGC Adeniyi also disclosed that the service recovered ₦1.5 billion and ₦500 million from infractions tied to bonded terminals. He credited this success to NCS’s upgraded intelligence network and technology, which now enable effective detection of concealed or fraudulently documented items.