The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has said that it collected a total N542, 934, 941.07 (Five Hundred and forty-two million, nine hundred and thirty-four thousand, nine hundred and forty-one naira, seven Kobo) as revenue in the month of May,2016 .
The Command also made 98 (Ninety-eight) seizures with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N83, 280, 340 (Eighty-three million, two hundred and eighty thousand, three hundred and forty naira) adding that about 6 (Six) suspects were also apprehended with the seizures made and are at different levels of investigations and prosecutions.
Giving the breakdown of the amount collected, the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Victor Dimka disclosed that fairly used vehicles that were escorted on transit accounted for 70% of the duty collected, baggage assessment and other taxes accounted for 13%, while imported general goods accounted for only 17% of the total revenue collected for the period under review.
He pointed out that the drastic reduction in the importation of general goods occasioned by the high exchange rate and the low volume of economic activities across the frontier has had negative consequences on the revenue drive of the Command.
However, he stressed that the increase in quantity of seizures recorded with a correspondence decline in smuggling activities was as a result of the aggressive operation by the enforcement unit of the Command to ensure total compliance to guidelines and procedures.
He informed that this has actually translated into exceptional seizures of greater magnitude in the month of May, 2016.
The CAC enjoined all sectional and unit heads not to rest on their oars as the Command’s resolve to succeed in her given mandates cannot be compromised nor over emphasized.
He re-iterated that the low volume of trade across the frontier would not deter the Command from putting in concerted effort in order to actualize our mandate of revenue generation, facilitation of legitimate trade and suppression of smuggling in a sensitive international land border of this kind.
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