The Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced that it generated N81.7 billion in the first quarter of this year.
The amount is N4, 307, 791, 477 higher than the revenue collected by the Command in the corresponding period of last year.
Providing details of the revenue trend, the Public Relations Officer, Nwala Ijeoma, in a statement projected that with the roll out of the Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System II (NICIS II) in Apapa which is expected to block all revenue leakages as well as the repairing of the Apapa axis roads,the Command would rake in more revenue in the months ahead.
According to the PRO, in the quarter under review, the Command seized four 4×40 ft containers of controlled drugs, including tramadol in excess of approved milligrams and also collected N110, 016, 524. 00 as duty paid on imported drugs.
The statement also indicated that the Command also processed a total of about 280,000 metric tons of various exports with a total FOB value of $115,093,562 US dollars.
The Customs Area Controller, Jibril Musa, was quoted as saying that the Command will continue to rev up all strategies and mechanisms for effective and efficient implementation of the Federal Government’s Executive Order on the Ease of Doing Business.
He stated: “ It is worthy of note to mention that the NCS is the lead Agency in the implementation of the presidential mandate and Apapa Area Command selected as the pilot command had since created the Central Examination Centre (CEC) where all stakeholders involved in cargo clearance Conduct examination at an agreed time with reports imputed almost immediately.
“This synergy/interfacing had paid off remarkably as consignments with no record of infractions are released within 24 hours while those with infractions are referred to dispute resolutions committee for further interventions/investigations”, the CAC added.
He promised to keep strengthening the working relationship among all agencies of government for enhanced international trade facilitation, urging importers to make honest declarations in order to achieve timely clearance and release of their cargoes
The Controller also solicited all stakeholders’ cooperation with the NCS by ensuring total compliance to extant laws and regulations guiding customs and excise payments as a strategic option of boosting government’s revenue and improving the nation’s rating in the global trade indices for speedy cargo clearance.
