The Tincan Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS has said that it collected a total of seven hundred and sixteen billion, four hundred and seventy nine million, seven thousand, five hundred and seventy six naira, seventy four Kobo as revenue in the year 2023.
This is even as the management of the Service has set an annual revenue target of one trillion, one hundred and thirty billion, seven hundred and sixty eight million, fifty one thousand, eight hundred and eighty one naira, twenty nine Kobo for the command in the year 2024.
The Customs Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Dera Nnadi who disclosed this in a press briefing at the command’s headquarters in Lagos on Tuesday said that the amount translated to 89.43% of the revenue target of eight hundred and one billion, one hundred and forty two million, two hundred and ninety seven thousand, four hundred and seven naira, sixty six Kobo issued to the command by the Management of the Service in 2023.
Nnadi said, “This is very significant and I commend officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service but particularly I commend the freight forwarders and the importers, the agents who paid this duty. I must give to them that they are the ones that helped us to generate this revenue.”
On export, the Controller disclosed that the command handled a total of six hundred and twenty three thousand, six hundred and ninety four point seven (623,694.7) metric tons of export which according to him was very significant as it represented 85% increase in the tonnage handled by the command in the year 2022.
“As you may all know, Comptroller General of Customs and indeed the nation is desirous to see that export of goods and services from Nigeria should be encouraged way and above imports. This is because considering the current exchange rate, the scarcity of Dollars vis-a-vis Naira, we cannot shy away from the fact that the survival of the economy of this nation rests squarely on our ability to encourage export in order to earn scarce foreign exchange”, he added.
Commending the Enforcement Unit of the command for their resilience last year, Comptroller Nnadi put the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of all the items seized by the command in the year 2023 at three billion, eight hundred and ninety one million naira. “I must commend the DC Enforcement and his team for this. One other significant thing about our seizures is that most of them were mainly psychotropic substances that would have harmed the youths of this nation and that would have aided the insecurity in the country.
“As you all are aware, we had two containers of tramadol that were seized recently that made headlines because officers of this command rejected fifty four thousand Dollars that were offered to them as bribe and still made arrest of those seizures. I must commend those officers and thank the Comptroller General of Customs who issued letters of commendations to those officers. But like Oliver Twist, we wish to request that more should be done for those officers and I congratulate Tincan officers”, he submitted.
Speaking on the revenue target for the command in 2024, the CAC said, “Following our beautiful performance in 2023, the Comptroller General of Customs and the management of customs has allocated a revenue target of one trillion, one hundred and thirty billion, seven hundred and sixty eight million, fifty one thousand, eight hundred and eighty one naira, twenty nine Kobo.
“This translates to monthly average collection of ninety four billion, two hundred and thirty million, six hundred and seventy thousand, nine hundred and ninety naira, eleven Kobo. That also translates to twenty one billion, six hundred and sixty six million, two hundred and twenty three thousand, two hundred and sixteen naira, twelve Kobo every week. That means, on daily basis, officers and men of Tincan Island Port Command with the support of our stakeholders, are supposed to collect four billion, three hundred and thirty two million, four hundred and forty four thousand, six hundred and forty three naira. This is no mean task but it is surmountable. We can do it.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the target allocated to the Nigeria Customs Service, Tincan Island Port, out of the national target is 27%. For those who are jittery, it may sound impossible to collect. To collect N94.2 billion every week is no mean task but I believe it is doable. We will never give up.
“Last year 2023, our monthly target was sixty six billion but from June till December, we averaged seventy six billion. That means it is doable for us too. If not for the shortfall we had in the initial time of the year when the economy was wobbling, I believe we would have maintained an average of Seventy six billion all through the year. But be that as it may, I want to encourage officers of Tincan, and our stakeholders that nobody should be scared of this huge amount of collecting N94.2 billion every month.”
On how the command intends to achieve the revenue target set for it by the management of the Service, he said, “Earlier this morning, while you were waiting, we strategized with the senior officers of the command who are expected to go out there and cascade whatever decision we have taken here down the line to their officers and men. Just like the Comptroller General of Customs summoned all the Area Controllers in Abuja on the 11th of January.
“We have declared in Tincan that 2024 is the year of stakeholders. We believe that they are going to reciprocate this kind gesture from us in order to offer them service delivery by paying appropriate duty, making correct declarations and being generally compliant.
“What are the other things that we intend to do? The Service has directed that every command must engage in what the CGC called Environmental Scan by studying their environment and optimizing opportunities inherent. He has also said that we are going to attach ourselves the policy landscape, the fiscal policy that will be given by the Ministry of Finance is going to offer. He has also said that we should engage in robust stakeholder relationship with all our stakeholders and to that effect, we are also going to engage with the National Trade Facilitation Committee to conduct a Time Release Study in Tincan, come the month of February 2924.
“In line with that, come February 8, 2024, at Marriott Hotel, the Comptroller General of Customs will be joined by the Honourable Minister of Finance, the Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment as well as the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy to flag off and launch the 2024 Time Release Study to be conducted in conjunction with the technical assistance of the World Customs Organization.
“We have also been told by the CGC to optimize our operational preparedness by embracing technological advancements and customs modernization.Similarly, he has also directed that technical capacity of every officer must be enhanced. The CGC has also said that he is going to improve the welfare of customs officers. If that is the case, we have been given enough motivation to ensure that this revenue target of one trillion, one hundred and thirty billion, seven hundred and sixty eight million, fifty one thousand and eight hundred and eighty one naira, twenty nine Kobo will be collected.”
Photo: Comptroller Dera Nnadi, Customs Area Controller, Tincan Island Port Command.
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