Customs Generates N183bn in Eight Months

Eromosele Abiodun

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Tincan Island Port Command has announced that it generated N183 billion between January and August 2017.

The command said in a statement that the development was sequel to the coordinated activities and innovative spirit of its comptroller and the entire officers/men.

Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Bashar Yusuf said the command has had a sustained high revenue profile since the beginning of the year, a feat that the Controller attributed to deliberate creative policies and stimulus plans aimed at blocking all possible areas of revenue loss.

He stated specifically that the revenue for August alone stood at over N28 billion, which is the highest in the annals of the command, particularly in the corresponding periods over the years past.

“Generally speaking, the command generated N183 billion between January and August, 2017 as against the sum of N156 billion during the same period in reference, despite global economic recession.

“It therefore implies that but for the exclusion of forty-one (41) items from Forex window; the command could have doubled its revenue profile.

“Analysis of the result showed that the Command is becoming more thorough in its Revenue drive, to the extent that all high yielding Revenue consignments are closely monitored to avoid circumvention of procedure,”he said.

The controller stated that the Customs high command expects so much from the command and as such, “the command will continue to develop adequate operational template and modalities that will be capable of entrenching integrity in the acumen of our operations.”

He pointed out that all officers/men of the command have a compelling need to discharge their functions in line with the change mantra of the Comptroller-General of Customs Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd).
The Comptroller extolled the virtues of the customs management and vowed to sustain and surpass the revenue target of the command in line with the expectations of the Nigeria Customs Service management.

In the same vein, the controller appreciated the compliance level of stakeholders in the port to fiscal policies of the federal government in terms of trade while advising few recalcitrant ones to toe the path of sanity through honest declaration in their documentations noting that integrity, due diligence, honest declarations and transparency are key elements in 21st Century customs operations.

Speaking further, the controller spoke about the importance of leadership skills as critical to success and advised O/C Terminals and other senior officers to exhibit a high moral/ethical standard that would showcase quality leadership for the actualisation of set goals and objectives.

On his plans for the ember months, the Comptroller pointed out that high cargo traffic is usually expected at this period of the year and advised importers to desist from importing uncustomed goods in view of its implication.
“All importers ought to be conversant with the external tariff, especially schedules 3 & 4 (prohibition other than trade and absolute prohibition),”he said.

In the same vein, he called on patriotic Nigerians, to oblige the command with credible information about illicit transactions or documentation, promising that the identity of such informant would be jealously guarded.

Related Articles