By Emma Uffot
The Nigeria Customs Service has begun the auction of 28 exotic brands of vehicles seized by its men over the months.
A summary shows that 16 Toyota, two Peugeot, five Honda and four Nissan are available for auction.
The Nigeria Customs Public Relations Officer, DC Joseph Attah announced the commencement of the auction which is a yearly occurrence.
The auction approved by the Federal Government, according to him, is for vehicles impounded by the Service due to smuggling and improper importation process which the stipulated penalty for the illegal act is outright forfeiture.
The impounded vehicles, he explained, are exotic, neat, and in perfect conditions and most importantly, have never been used in the country before.
The lists of the vehicles together with their negotiated prices fixed by the Nigeria Customs are as follows.
Toyota Land cruiser- N5 million, Toyota Prado- N4.5m, Toyota Corolla- N650,000, Toyota Camry- N550,000, Toyota Avensis-N750,000, Toyota Yaris- N550, 000, Toyota Avanza- N600,000, Toyota RAV4 SUV-N850,000, Toyota Hilus Pick Up- N950,000 and Toyota Dyna Truck- N850,000.
Others are Toyota Hiace Bus- N3.5million, Toyota Coaster Bus( 32 seaters- N2.5million, Toyota Highlander- N950,000, Toyota Sienna- N850,000, Toyota Avalon-N900,000 and Toyota Avenza N2.5 million.
Apart from Toyota which we learnt is the bride of car merchants, other brands of vehicles also seized that are also available for auction are Peugeot, Honda and Nissan.
The Peugeot cars available for auction, according to Nigerian Customs, release with their affixed prices are Peugeot 406-N650,000 and 401 whose price is fixed for N750,000.
For Honda brands at the Warehouse and border posts ready for auction are Honda Civic- N950,000, Honda Accord- N750,000, Honda CR-U.N750,000, Honda Odyssey- N850,000 and Honda Pilot- N1.2 million.
Similarly, four Nissan brand vehicles for auction in this NCS Batch include Nissan Sunny Sedan- N550,000, Nissan Patrol SUV- N950,000, Nissan Civilian (30 Seaters)-N1.5M and Nissan Pathfinder- N2M.
Attah, therefore, called on eligible Nigerians to avail themselves of the opportunity of this auction to bid for the vehicles currently in the Custom Warehouse in Lagos and border posts awaiting removal by clearance.
Part of the conditions of the bidding process to the bidders includes a clause that the vehicles which are in good conditions have a three-month guarantee.
The seizure of smuggled vehicles, have been a measure adopted by the Nigeria Customs since time memorial to check car smuggling which has impacted negatively on the revenue accrued to vehicle importation, however, even as the Service has stepped up its fight against smugglers, it has not deterred Nigerians that are in this illegal business.
Under the leadership of Comptroller-General Hameed Ibrahim Ali, the Nigeria Customs Service has set up an anti-smuggling taskforce to battle smugglers. This measure has in recent times led to an increase in the volume of seized contraband smuggled products and vehicles.
November last year, bags of rice, oil and several exotic vehicles were seized by men of the Nigeria Customs Service.
To ease the process of auctioning of seized vehicles, the Service under Ali, the Comptroller- General, introduced 48 hours e-auctioning.
