Nigerians have been advised to stop assuming that all new tyres are good for their use. According to a statement by the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), dealers now stuffed-up tyres they bought from the overseer.
He noted that most of them buy tyres about six containers and stuffed it up in a single container just so they can escape paying tax for the other five.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Bola Fashina, Special Assistant to SON Director-General warned that Nigerians should desist from buying such tyres as it could cause an accident.
He warned also that fairly used tyred is not an option either, adding that most at times they were either brought in to the country through smuggling or as wrong declaration to get into Nigeria.
Fashina lamented that unscrupulous importers stuff up to five or six new tyres into one while importing them into the country.
He said: “The whole idea is to bring in five containers of tyres inside one container in order to pay duty for only one container instead of paying for six. Those are the kinds of new tyres that you see on vehicles that explode.
“The fact that they are new does not mean that they are good tyres because they have been stuffed and unstuffed. Once our attention is called to it and they are stuffed, we seize them outrightly and prosecute those responsible.
“We do not check used tyres at the point of entry because there is no standard to judge them and since they are contraband they are not supposed to come into the country.”
Meanwhile, Naija News had reported about a month ago that four hundred bags of smuggled rice and six hundred bags of fertiliser have been intercepted by the Customs Federal Operation Unit Zone “B” Kaduna.
