The Tincan Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has collected a total of thirty-one billion, two hundred and ten million, six thousand, one hundred and eighty nine naira and eight kobo (N31, 210,006,189.8) in March 2020.
This is against the sum of twenty-five billion, nine hundred and ninety million, thirteen thousand, two hundred and eighty nine naira and eighty four kobo (N25, 990,013,289.84) collected during the same period in 2019 indicating a difference of five billion, two hundred and nineteen million, nine hundred and ninety two thousand, nine hundred and four naira and ninety six kobo (N5, 219,992,904.96.)
The Customs Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr. Uche Ejesieeme who disclosed this in a statement in Lagos yesterday recalled that the Customs Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Musa Baba Abdullahi had indicated and created a clear roadmap for the actualization of his mandate bearing in mind the enormous expectations from the command as one of the epic areas for revenue generation.
Ejesieme noted that part of his (Abdullahi) strategy was the mobilisation of critical stakeholders through series of roundtables and consultations towards ensuring that trade facilitation was given a boost in line with global best practices.
He pointed out that the Customs Area Controller at those parleys solicited the support of all parties in the trade value chain particularly on the issue of compliance with the fiscal and monetary policies of the federal government and the need to adhere strictly.
According to him, “Further to this is the removal of all manner of bureaucratic bottlenecks and obstacles which might hinder access to information and intervention in critical areas. This is exemplified in the open door policy of the Customs Area Controller as well as establishment of Trade Facilitation and Dispute Resolution Platforms for expeditious resolution of disputes arising from the various transactions.
“We are optimistic that all things being equal, the operational templates that have been put in place by the Customs Area Controller will surely lead to monumental revenue collection.”
On the issue of the global Coronavirus pandemic, he said, “we are glad to inform you that our sensitization campaign on the subject began with the news of the outbreak of the disease in Wuhan China in November 2019 following a circular from customs headquarters which compelled customs commands to commence awareness and education on ways of containing the virus.
“Following the report of the index case in Nigeria, the command began even more intensive and aggressive campaign with the visit by the Zonal Medical Personnel of the service led by Dr. Bello in collaboration with our Resident Medical personnel.
“Lectures were delivered on the safest measures which officers and stakeholders should adopt to keep safe. Participants were also advised to always maintain social distancing use of latex gloves, sanitizers and regular hand washing amongst other safety measures.
“Beyond all of this, the Area Controller directed the erection of signage at strategic places in the command that conveyed very salient information to stakeholders on additional measures we have adopted to ensure the safety and health of our employees and other stakeholders.”
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