In a bid to tackle the influx of substandard and unregistered pharmaceutical products, the Nigeria Customs Service has banned bonded terminals from handling the clearance of pharmaceutical imports.

This is even as the service stated that it has approved only four terminals, namely, Apapa, Airport, Onne, and Ports & Terminal Multipurpose Limited, as the only terminals that can handle such imports.

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeni, stated this recently in Apapa, Lagos, while handing over 25 seized containers laden with unregistered and prohibited products to officers of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.

He explained that the service felt it was important to closely monitor the importation corridor of a certain kind of product, pharmaceutical products.

According to him, there has been a policy of restricting such importation to a very limited number of terminals, and it is for the reason of ensuring that the NCS has enough machinery and structures to monitor what is imported.

“So, for that reason, in the past, the importation was restricted to three entry ports, and that was at Apapa Ports, Onne Ports, and the Airport in Lagos. This was recently revised, and PTML was added to the ports. So, we don’t expect pharmaceutical products in any other entry ports apart from these four places.

“And I will also use this platform to inform Nigerians that, on account of this, we have reviewed our policies of allowing bonded terminals to be used for the release of pharmaceutical products. Henceforth, pharmaceutical products will not be allowed to be sent into any of those bonded terminals.

“To enhance the effective implementation of these policies, we will insist that any pharmaceutical products must be cleared, duties must be paid, and inspection must be done at the designated terminals. We will no longer allow stemming these things down into off-dock facilities,” Adeniyi explained.

Speaking further, he added that the reason for the decision was the sensitive nature of such imports, stressing that other imports, except pharmaceuticals, can be cleared from bonded terminals.

“We can allow any other thing, but because of the sensitive nature of pharmaceutical products, and because of the abuse to which these concessions have been subjected in the past, they will only be allowed to be cleared in these four designated places that I have mentioned,” Adeniyi said.