Abiola Rabiat, a Nigerian lady based in New Zealand, has narrated how the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) took N47,000 from her sister in Kwara State before releasing a package partially eaten by rats.

When Rabiat’s sister raised concerns about the damage caused by the rats, the manager of the Ilorin NIPOST office said there was nothing the postal office could do, as heard in a video recording obtained by FIJ.

Rabiat told FIJ that she sent a gift package containing children’s clothes, toiletries, coffee and chocolates to her younger sister via postal delivery in January, but her sister would only get the items in March, after she was made to pay N47,000.

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Also, the fact that the sister had to pay the money into a personal account instead of an official one at the NIPOST office in Ilorin did not sit well with Rabiat.

In addition to the fact that the edibles had been eaten by rats, rendering them unfit for human consumption, the video obtained by FIJ revealed that the box was full of rat excrement.

While narrating the incident to FIJ, Rabiat said, “The gift items were meant for my sister’s children. I paid for the gifts to be delivered to her office address. They said it was going to take two to four weeks. But it took two months.

“And when they called my sister on March 15 that she should come to the NIPOST office for her package, the person who called her said she had to come with about N47,000. They said the customs charge on the package was N45,919 and NIPOST charged N1050 when she asked them why she had to pay that amount.”

FIJ learned that Rabiat’s sister went to the postal delivery office on March 18 but left after realising that the items would not be released to her until she paid that amount.

“When she asked to see the manager on that Monday, he explained that the majority of the charges were not from them but from customs. He showed her a paper with the breakdown of the fee. Then she told them she would come back.

“I was even telling my sister that perhaps we should involve the police, but she said involving the police in Nigeria meant we would even spend more. So, she sent me a message on March 27 that she had already paid. When she sent me the receipt, I saw that the money was paid into a personal account. When I asked her why, she said they told her that they did not have an account number. She either had to pay with cash or transfer to that particular account.

“She also told me that she opened the package in their presence and found that rats had eaten the chocolates. You could see that the rats had chewed on the chocolate wrappings. The package had rat faeces all over it, too.”

Meanwhile, the sister in Ilorin revealed to FIJ that the manager had told her she could write a letter to the customs office regarding the amount. She was, however, discouraged when she learned that getting a response might take up to one to two months.

“They told me I could send a letter to the customs headquarters along with the receipt of the items my sister bought. But when I asked how long it would take, he said he could not say but it could take a month or two months. That was when I said I would come some other time because I needed to think about it. When I eventually decided to pay, I found that rats had even eaten some of the items within the two months they had spent in Nigeria. I wondered what would have happened to the entire package if I had chosen to write the letter,” she said.

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NIPOST HEADQUARTERS

When FIJ contacted NIPOST’s headquarters on Wednesday via one of the numbers obtained on the website, the woman who answered the call said paying customs charges on items sent from another country to Nigeria was not out of place.

She, however, revealed that it was wrong for payment to be made to a personal account.

She said, “Whatever the sender paid in over there is for that country. Payment has to be made in Nigeria, too. Even if it is a pen, customs charges would still apply. If any item is missing, normally the receiver should not collect such. Also, if she’s not okay with the customs charge, she should write a letter to the customs comptroller that they should re-assess the charges. Paying into a personal bank account is wrong. She should lay a complaint and see the manager.”

‘CUSTOMERS MAKE PAYMENTS INTO THAT PRIVATE ACCOUNT IN ILORIN NIPOST OFFICE’

FIJ also called Jimoh Adeyemo, the head of the courier department at the Ilorin branch of NIPOST, who confirmed that Rabiat’s sister indeed paid N47,000 into a private bank account.

Adeyemo maintained that the account owner, Iyiola Adenike Adeola, was designated to collect all payments on behalf of the NIPOST office in Ilorin before paying into the appropriate government account.

He said, “As far as Ilorin NIPOST is concerned, the person she paid to is designated to collect payment on behalf of our office in Ilorin. She is in charge of payment. We told the customer that the package came with customs charges, and that she had a right as a customer to write for the re-assessment of the package.

“Regarding the rats, are we the ones that asked the rats to eat the package? Our operational policy on damaged packages gives customers the right to reject a package if there is any infraction. However, this package you are talking about is not damaged. It was eaten by rodents in the office, which could have been from our Lagos office or here in Ilorin. We did not open it because it had been assessed from Lagos. We only invited her via a phone call to come for the package. And it’s after the payment that we can deliver to the customer.”