The Nigeria Customs Service, Seme Area Command has successfully thwarted the nefarious move to smuggle illegal items into Nigeria, one of which was a fake $6m (equivalent of N2.763b) that has already been handed over to the Anti-Graft Agency on Tuesday.
The Customs Area Controller in charge of Seme Command, Dera Nnadi, made this known to journalists, stressing that the Command is also adopting new strategies in line with the ECOWAS protocol on the free movement of goods and persons to boost trade facilitation.
Comptroller Dera said that the Command has achieved huge success in the first quarter of 2023, as it facilitated 425 Trucks with fees amounting to N314, 720, 938.7. Also, the command assessed 412 baggage declarations with duty amounting to N58,844,382.
Comptroller Dera stated that the items imported include food products and beverages produced within the sub-region, while for export, the Command was able to intercept 1,243 trucks bearing 40,096.47 metric tons of made-in-Nigeria cargo declared on 165 Single Administrative Documents with Free On Board value of N4,291,322,887.19 kobo and National Export Supervision Scheme Fees of N21,456,551.83k.
“During the same period in 2022, 3006 trucks bearing 116,053.9 metric tons of cargo with FOB value of N6,597, 506, 993.28K with NESS Fee of N32,989,006.16 was recorded – and this, regrettably contains a shortfall in export to the tune of 75,000 metric tons of cargo due to competition between Dangote Cement and competitors in the cement market at Togo.” He added.
He said that the Command had also used other sources of generating revenue through auction sales of seized items especially petroleum products and other perishable items – which prompted them to generate the sum of N350,099,541.71 in the first quarter of 2023.
According to Comptroller Dera, the total difference of revenue generated for the first quarter of 2023 compared to that in 2022 was N105,095,708.76k or 23.09 percent short of N455,195,250,.47k collected in the corresponding period in 2022.
He highlighted that the deficit gained was due to the pause in activities during the cashless policy and the wait by the traders for the outcome of the general election.
In the area of anti-smuggling, Comptroller Dera stated that the Command seized 2,242 bags of 50kg with Duty Paid Value of N72,700,480; 7,587 by 30 liters of Premium Motor Spirit equivalent of 227,610 liters or Seven Tanker loads of PMS with duty paid value of N51,075,684 and 550 pieces of donkey skin with duty paid value of N10, 689,504.
Other seized items were: 6 Maltese International Passports with the same picture of a lady but bearing different names, 2 Senegalese International Passports, 3 Togolese International Passports, 4 Republic of Benin International Passports, 1 Republic of Niger International Passports and 10 International Driving License of these various countries.
He maintained that the seized items will be handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service on the order of the CGC and in line with the Service’s desire to consolidate the synergy between NCS and partner agencies.
In addition to the Command’s seizures, were 1160 pieces of dead rats, 1102 pieces of dead tiny birds and 34 pieces of monkey skin, and 14 parcels of cannabis sativa.
He said that the Command will continue to dialogue, engage, sensitize, and educate the public on the socio-economic implication of smuggling as well as perform the statutory function of enforcing compliance in line with Government Fiscal Policies.
