The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Seme Area Command has said that it collected a total of Nine Hundred and Ninety Four Million, Eight Hundred and Thirteen Thousand, Six Hundred and Forty Seven Naira, Six Kobo (N994, 813,647.06) for the month of October 2016.
The command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Selechang Taupyen who disclosed this in a press release he issued in Seme Wednesday also said that the Command also made Sixty Eight seizures (68) with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of Thirty-Five Million, Three Hundred and Two Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty Seven Naira, Ninety Kobo (N35, 302,957.90).
Taupyen disclosed that the revenue collected for the month of October exceeded the amount collected in the corresponding period in 2015 with over Sixty Million, Eight Hundred and Eighty- Four Thousand, Two Hundred and Ninety- One Naira, Seventy-Six Kobo (N60, 884,291.76).
He attributed the challenges that hampered the smooth collection of revenue in the month of October to include:- the malfunctioning of the Electrical Control Cabinet and the Electricity Generating Plant of the Scanning Machine which he said lasted for five (5) days, the new policy introduced by the Republic of Benin on movement of goods from the ports to their Bonded Terminals before being transferred to the park, the prevailing high exchange rate (CFA) and the dilapidated nature of the road diversion from the Republic of Benin which according to him had contributed immensely in slowing down economic activities at the border.
He quoted the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Victor Dimka as saying that their determination to succeed all the time and at all cost was paying off even he said that the CAC was quick to point out that there was room for improvement to surpass the amount generated.
The Customs Area Controller noted that if the command must dare to be different and remain in total compliance as a change agent, the command must be ready to face criticism and public condemnation among many unpatriotic Nigerians.
He said that no amount of criticism, campaign of calumny and unprofessional publications of baseless and unverified news on the pages of newspapers against Seme would stop the command from working strictly in compliance with the mandate of the Comptroller General of Customs.
The CAC re-stated that anything short of actualizing the mandate of the Service would not see the light of the day adding that he would continue to spur his officers and men to put in their modest contribution to actualize the service’s mandate.
Dimka maintained that the only way officers and men could complement the relentless effort of the Comptroller General of Customs was to maintain a high level of discipline, integrity and excellence while discharging their core functions of revenue collection, suppression of smuggling and facilitating legitimate trade.
In his monthly forum with the stakeholders, the host communities and the registered associations of freight forwarders at the border, the Customs boss attributed the improvement in the revenue of the command to the cooperation of the stakeholders saying that despite the difficult times and policy changes, the stakeholders still comply and cooperate with the command in doing legitimate business that was in line with the Federal Government policies and the service books of instructions.
The Command’s helmsman observed that as a vanguard of change, he stood fulfilled because the major stakeholders in the command were in compliance with the change policies and were adhering to the standard operational procedures in the border Command.
He added that it was only through compliance to guidelines and procedures that infractions were avoided and the service core mandate realized.
He cited an instance where members of the Odua People Congress who came for the annual worship of their deity almost took advantage of the occasion to smuggle rice into Nigeria, but were resisted by the Enforcement Unit of the Command.
The Controller warned that no association or group of people under any platform or guise were above the law even as he told officers not to be intimidated by any unlawful union or gathering that would dare the might of constituted authority at the border.
He therefore appealed to all officers and men to intensify more efforts geared towards suppression of smuggling and generating maximum revenue in an atmosphere of peace that would facilitate legitimate trade across the frontier.
It could be recalled that on resumption of duty on the 13th January, 2016 at Seme Command, the Customs Area Controller disclosed that, for Seme Command not to remain the same, officers and men of the Command must get it right and have a complete moral rebirth in discharging their statutory obligations.
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