The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has debunked the allegation that it collected N10,000 as duties to the Federal Government on its e-auction window for sales of seized vehicles.
According to the NCS, the information was misleading and misrepresenting the facts of the matter. It said the vehicles had a reserved price of N400,000.
The auction process, Customs National Public Relations Officer Abdullahi Maiwada said, gave every Nigerian that bidded for a vehicle an equal opportunity.
Most of the exotic vehicles that were seized by the service, it was learnt, are under litigation and cannot be auctioned to the public until the courts rule on them and forfeit them to the Federal Government.
From the data generated upon completion of five successful bidding windows on its revived electronic auction portal, the NCS said 13,605 applicants registered in the windows, while 476 vehicles were uploaded and 462 were successful.
The NCS also said the Federal Government made N556,738,736 as revenue from the auction.
He said: “The NCS is a law-abiding government organisation dedicated to maintaining the most outstanding levels of accountability and transparency in all its activities. It takes any accusations of improper behaviour seriously.
“We wish to categorically deny involvement in fraudulent activities or underhand dealings in the e-auctioning of vehicles or other goods.”
Maiwada said the service was unhappy to see allegations that impugned on the integrity of the e-auction process, which was designed to provide a level-playing filed for all Nigerians.
