The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that it collected the sum of one trillion, three hundred and forty-one billion, six hundred and ninety million, five hundred and sixty-eight thousand, three hundred and twenty-seven Naira, eighteen Kobo (N1,341,690,568,327.18) for the outgone year 2019.
The amount collected is over the target of nine hundred and thirty-seven billion, two hundred and eighty-six million, one hundred and twenty-one thousand, five hundred and eighty-six Naira (N937,286,121,586.00) set for the year 2019 and one hundred and thirty-nine billion, two hundred and forty-one million, eight hundred and thirty-five thousand and eighty-two Naira, twenty-nine Kobo (N139,241,835,082.29) over the sum of one trillion, two hundred and two billion, four hundred and forty-eight million, seven hundred and thirty-three thousand, two hundred and forty-four Naira, eighty-nine Kobo (N1,202,448,733,244.89) collected in 2018.
In the same vein, the Service efforts to prevent the entry of items that could compromise the security of the citizens, national economy and the well-being of the people resulted in the seizures of thirty thousand, nine hundred and six (30,906) assorted items with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of sixty-two billion, one hundred and thirty-four million, four hundred and twenty-six thousand, one hundred and ninety-nine Naira (N62,134,426,199.00).
These seizures include arms, ammunitions, illicit drugs, used clothings, vegetable oil, frozen poultry and foreign rice among others that have grave consequences on economy, security and well-being of Nigerians.
The National Public Relations Officer (NPRO) of the NCS, DC Joseph Attah in a statement quoted the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) as describing the feat as a result of resolute pursuit of what was right rather than being populist by compromising national interest on the altar of individual or group interests.
Attah noted that the Service revenue collection profile had continued to be on the rise annually as the ongoing reforms in the Service insisted on: strategic deployment of officers strictly using the standard operating procedure, strict enforcement of extant guidelines by the tariff and trade department, automation of the customs process thereby eliminating vices associated with the manual process, robust stakeholder sensitization resulting in more informed/voluntary compliance as well as increased disposition of officers and men to put national interest above selves.
He observed that the partial border closure which had forced cargoes that could have been smuggled through the porous borders to come through the sea and airports raised revenue collection from ports adding that before the commencement of the border drill on 20th August 2019, revenue collection was between N4 billion to N5 billion but now NCS collects between N5 billion to N7 billion daily.
According to him, “The partial border closure is a decisive action against the challenging issue of trans-border crime and criminalities, fueled by the noncompliance to ECOWAS Protocol on transit of goods by neigbhouring Countries. NCS hopes that the ongoing discussions with our neighbours will yield permanent solution to the challenges of border security.
“The Service wishes to express its readiness to strictly implement the outcome of the ongoing diplomatic engagements.”
“While we give our assurances of total commitment to the course of nation building, we call on Nigerians, especially the business community to support the NCS on the ongoing drive to robustly contribute to national security and create enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the country”, he concluded.
Photo: National Public Relations Officer of NCS, DC Joseph Attah.
Send your news, press releases/articles to augustinenwadinamuo@yahoo.com. Also, follow us on Twitter @ptreporters and on Facebook on facebook.com/primetimereporters or call the editor on 07030661526, 08053908817.
