The Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service says it has generated N790billion between January-September 2022.
This is an exponential improvement of N181.5 billion as against N609 billion naira collected in the corresponding months of the year 2021, representing 29.8% increment.
The Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Yusuf Malanta made this known in a press briefing on the Command’s scorecard in the areas of import/export trade, anti-smuggling activities and trade facilitation.
Comptroller Yusuf attributed the remarkable achievement to officers’ tireless commitment.
Comptroller Malanta stated that “this remarkable achievement was made possible because of our officers’ tireless commitment to ensuring that all revenue leakages are being mitigated, as well as sustaining the level of compliance by the importers/stakeholders in the clearance value chain”.
In the area of anti-smuggling, the Command recorded one hundred and forty-five (145) seizures of various items with a duty paid value (DPV) of Twelve billion, four hundred and ninety-six million, six hundred and seventy-two thousand, one hundred and twenty-two naira (N12,496,672,122.00).
The seized items which are in clear breach of sections 46 and 47 of the Customs and Excise Management Act, CEMA CAP C45 LFN 2004 include, unregistered medicaments such as tramadol and codeine,processed/unprocessed wood, used clothing, ladies/men’s footwear, foreign parboiled rice, tomato paste, vegetable oil and other sundry items that fall under import/export prohibition list.
“Anti-smuggling activities have been one of the command’s focal points, especially with the activities of some unrepentant traders who are always looking for avenues to undermine our system.
“The command has fortified its forensic manifest management to monitor and detect fraudulent transactions through audit trials to ensure that illicit trades are being tracked before the declarations are lodged”, he emphasised.
“Furthermore, the enforcement unit has been reinforced through improved collaboration and sharing of credible intelligence with relevant government agencies to suppress smuggling activities to its barest minimum”, he explained.
The Comptroller reemphasized that the Command is continuously 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 extant trade guidelines will be detected through layers of control mechanism.
He appealed to stakeholders to join hands with the Command and ensure that items on the import/export prohibition list are strictly adhered to and urged them to embrace the emerging realities of Customs examination through a non-intrusive inspection (NII) regime.
Comptroller Yusuf appreciated the Comptroller General of Customs Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) and his Management Team for providing an enabling platform that yields more efficiency.
He further appreciated government agencies and other stakeholders in Apapa for their collaboration and synergy. He further thanked officers and men of Apapa Command for their resilience and support towards achieving this success.
