… Increases revenue collection by 65.7%
The Apapa command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that it has recorded forty-six (46) seizures of various items with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of one billion, one hundred and forty-two million, eight hundred and seventy-six thousand, six hundred and six Naira (N1,142,876,606.00) in the first three months of 2022.
The Customs Area Controller of the command, Yusuf Malanta Ibrahim who disclosed this in a statement in Lagos on Thursday said that the seizures were against the twenty-eight (28) made in the corresponding period in 2021.
Ibrahim listed the seizures to include unregistered medicaments such as tramadol and codeine syrup, unprocessed woods, footwear, used clothing, foreign parboiled rice and other sundry items that fall under the prohibition list. These items, he said were in clear contravention of Sections 46 and 47 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) CAP C45, LFN 2004.
He observed that Anti-smuggling activities had been a matter of central concern in the command particularly with the activities of the recalcitrant traders who were always looking for ways to undermine the system.
He further disclosed that “The enforcement unit has been strengthened through strict monitoring, enhanced collaboration and sharing of credible intelligence with relevant government agencies to suppress smuggling activities to its bares minimum.
“At this juncture, let me reiterate that Apapa command is always ready to assist in facilitating legitimate trade and ensuring that all forms of smuggling activities through false declaration on import/export done in defiance to the extant trade guidelines will be detected through our layers of control mechanism.”
The CAC went ahead to explain that in the period under review, the command collected revenue to the tune of two hundred and sixty-four billion, five hundred and thirty-six million, two hundred and one thousand, two hundred and ninety-three Naira, seventy-one Kobo (N264,536, 201, 293.71).
“This shows a significant increase of N104 billion as against the N159 billion collected in the corresponding months in the year 202, representing 65.7% increase in revenue collection. This feat was made possible because of our officers’ creativity and leveraging on the Service IT platforms to ensure all revenue leakages have been mitigated as well as sustaining the level of compliance by the importers/stakeholders in the clearance value chain”, he added.
On export, Comptroller Ibrahim submitted that in line with the federal government’s effort to diversify the economy through the non-oil export, the command recorded exportation of agricultural goods, mineral resources, steel among others.
According to him, “For the first quarter of the year 2022, statistics from export report indicates that goods worth thirty-four billion, seventy-two million, eight hundred and sixty-nine thousand, seven hundred and ninety-nine (N34,072,869,799.00) with Free On Board (FOB) value of$87,992,356.10 million were exported as against the N30.2 billion which is equivalent to FOB value of $82.1 million between the months of January and March 2021.”
He, however, sought the indulgence of the stakeholders to join forces with the command and ensure that items that were on the import/export prohibition list were strictly adhered to as he urged them to prepare themselves for the emerging realities in customs examination through the Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) regime.
“The Non-Intrusive Inspection regime is targeted at increasing the volume of cargo inspection, saving cost/clearing time, storing reliable data and images for reference purposes and reducing human contact in the examination of containerized goods leading to delay in the clearance time.”
While recalling that the achievements recorded by the command had earned it remarkable letters of commendation from the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) his management team, the CAC pointed that this had further strengthened the command’s drive to sustain the tempo and up the ante in discharging their responsibilities.
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