The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Kano/Jigawa Area Command has generated N21.018bn as revenue from January to December, 2020.
The revenue collections by the Command surpassed its N20bn revenue target for the year by over N1 billion despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation and represented an increase of about 84 percent over its N13 billion collections in 2019.
The Comptroller of the Area Command, Sulaiman Umar, made the disclosure while briefing the media on the performance of the Command at Customs House, Bompai, Kano State.
Umar, who also dislcosed that his men successfully impounded over N23.7 million worth of contraband goods in the last two weeks of his assumption of office as the new Comptroller, explained that the Service also made different seizures at different locations within the Command’s area of coverage which amounts to about 353 in 2020 alone, with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over N900 billion.
He clarified: “As you all know, the core mandate of the Nigeria Customs Service is to collect revenue for the Federal Government and account for same, facilitate legitimate trade, suppress smuggling which is a serious threat to national security and economy, and provide security at the national boarders.
“Some of the impounded contraband items within the two weeks under review include about 390 bags of foreign rice with a DPV of N8,468,070, 20 jerry cans of Vegetable Oil with a DPV of N340,000, 182 Bales of Second hand clothes with a DPV of N7,045,766 and 100 Cartoons of Mosquito Coil with a DPV of N6,435,000.
“Others are 98 Packs of Spaghetti with a DPV of N379,260, 35 Cartoons of Green Tea with a DPV of N677,477, 190 Cartoons and 6 pcs Tin Tomato with a N164,500 DPV and 79 Cartoons of Condense Milk with a N213,300 DPV”, Umar added.
According to him, most of the items were conveyed in commercial buses and cars meant for transportation of people and goods.
Commenting on lack of cooperation by border communities, the Comptroller recalled that this had been a challenge over the years, assuring, however, that his men will not relent in sensitizing the border communities on the dangers of smuggling to their health and the nation’s economy.
Umar said the sensitization had become more imperative because smuggling “destroys local industries and eventually creates unemployment. So we keep on sensitizing them and I will also use this opportunity to ask for your own collaboration too in sensitization in your various media houses.”
Speaking on government’s latest directive on the re-opening of four borders across the country, the Comptroller said “what the government has prohibited, the law will still be enforced that you cannot bring in rice, second hand clothes and all other commodities that have been restricted.
“Therefore, the border is open for legitimate trade and for legitimate goods”, he stressed.
