The Nigeria Customs Service on Friday said it had intercepted a container full of soup and other edible items worth N27,960,000 being imported from China.

The NCS said the container, which was cleared in one of the ports in Lagos, was intercepted by the Comptroller-General of Customs Strike Force team based on intelligence provided by the intelligence unit of the NCS.

It added that some other items that had the semblance of mushrooms were already deteriorating in the container and could pose a serious danger to human health when consumed.

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The NCS had in the past intercepted a 20ft container of Egusi, Jollof Rice, Ogbono and yam porridge imported from India at the Tin-Can Island Port in Lagos.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Comptroller and National Coordinator, CGC Strike Force team, Abdullahi Kirawa, who spoke to journalists on Friday while displaying some of the items seized by the NCS between September 19 and October 18, 2018, said importing pots of stew and such edible items without verification, as they were labelled in Chinese language, could pose serious harm to the consumers.

He said it was high time Nigerians started having more preference for things produced in the country rather than imported ones.

He said,

“How can someone import soup into this country? They were carefully concealed inside the container. I will advise that Nigerians should ignore xenocentrism and embrace ethnocentrism.

“Our quest for foreign goods and items must be discouraged and we must work hard to embrace and patronise home-made goods, including our delicious stew that are prepared from our homes. We need to stop engaging in this type of business.

“This type of soup poses danger to public health, to the economy and of course our teeming youths. If soup could be imported, then what else are we going to do? This is something we need to reflect on. This is a call that this type of importation of goods must be discouraged.”

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He said there was a need for increased sensitisation to forestall a recurrence.