The Apapa area command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has repotted a turnover of N522.4 billion in the first half of the year ended June 30, 2022.
The Area Comptroller Malanta Ibrahim Yusuf, who disclosed this to journalists over the weekend said the Command has consistently strive in its core mandates of revenue generation, prevention and suppression of smuggling, Trade facilitation, implementation of government fiscal policies as well as collaboration and cooperation with other government agencies to facilitate ease of doing business in the port.
According to him, in the period under review, the command collected revenue to the tune of N522.4 billion, showing a significant increase of N156 billion as against N366.5 billion naira collected in the corresponding months of the year 2021, which represents 42.5% increase in total revenue collection.
“This feat was made possible because of our officers’ resilience in ensuring identified revenue leakages have been mitigated, while sustaining the level of compliance by the importers/stakeholders in the clearance value chain.” He noted.
In his words: “In line with the Federal government efforts to diversify the economy through non-oil export, the command recorded a boom in the exportation of non-oil commodities with about 2.5 million metric tons, above the five hundred and forty thousand (540) metric tons in the year 2021.
“The Free on Board (FOB) value for the exported items also rose from $1.6 million in the year 2021 to $138 million in 2022. Items exported includes steel bars, agricultural and mineral products amongst others.
“The Federal Government policy and export incentive schemes have played vital roles in boosting export trade in Nigeria.
“Our anti-smuggling operation is guided by the Federal Government Import and Export prohibition lists, as well as other government fiscal policies as directed.
“For the period under review, we have managed to curb the smuggling of dangerous items, resulting in the seizure of 83 containers with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N8.3 billion.
“Some of the seized items include: 32 containers of processed/unprocessed wood; 5 containers of unregistered pharmaceuticals; 18 containers of used clothing/shoes; 12 containers of foreign parboiled rice; 7 containers of vegetable oil; 3 containers of tomato paste and 1x20ft container laden with 150 cartons of tramadol.
“For the period under review, 21 suspects have been arrested in connection with the seizures made. Furthermore, a suspect has been arrested in the recent seizure of 1x20ft container of tramadol and he is currently undergoing interrogation/investigation.
“To further strengthen existing relationship between relevant government agencies in the port, the command had recently handed over 2x20ft containers no. SUDU 7774749 and UETU2798479 laden with 150 cartons of illicit hard drugs to the NDLEA.”
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