The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Tincan Island Command has said that it collected a total of One hundred and thirty billion, seven hundred and sixty-three million, one hundred and eighty-three thousand, seven hundred and ninety-three naira (N130, 763,183,793.00) in seven months.
The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the command, Comptroller Yusuf Bashar who disclosed this recently in a chat with some strategic stakeholders in his office in Lagos stated that the statutory function of the command remained revenue generation and facilitation of legitimate trade even as he stressed that deliberate and concerted efforts were being made in terms of strict adherence with the rules and standards of operation.
Bashar pointed out that the operations, processes and procedures of customs were fully automated and computerized to the extent that trade facilitation could be guaranteed.
He however reiterated that trade facilitation could only work when importers and their agents were transparent in their declarations to Customs.
The Controller who also reacted to the current increase in the exchange rate for calculating import duty which is generating concern in the Maritime sector pointed out that the Service as an agency of the Federal Government was charged with the implementation of Federal Government’s fiscal policies as it relates to trade.
“It is instructive to note that the Nigeria Customs Service by its statutory role, does not determine exchange rate, but only rely on the CBN to update us with the information in accordance with its establishing act. It is therefore pertinent to note that the current situation is beyond the Customs”, the CAC said.
The Customs boss added that the Command’s operational methodology was in sync with the change ideology of the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd), which he said encompassed discipline, integrity, transparency and due diligence.
He stated further that there was a paradigm shift in the operational system of the command geared towards strengthening the drive in ensuring that time of cargo delivery was reduced to the barest minimum.
He however expressed his passion for stakeholder engagement to strengthen professionalism, promotion of inter-agency collaboration and synergy to ensure robust relationship as well as on the job capacity building and also to enhance officers’ knowledge, particularly on modern trends and practices which promotes trade facilitation and due diligence.
The Controller disclosed that the Command was under obligation to ensure zero tolerance to corrupt practices in line with global best practices as he called on stakeholders to support the Service in all aspects so that maximum revenue could be generated in line with the vision and mission of the Nigeria Customs Service.
He stated that part of the measures put in place for the actualization of his mandate was the use of a specialized committee – “Dispute Resolution committee”, noting that the committee was charged and entrusted with the responsibilities of resolving contentious issues which might arise in areas of classification and valuation with a view to ensuring that such disputes were resolved using the statute books.
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