By Ajibola Adedoye
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Apapa Area Command has collected a total sum of One trillion, Twenty-Three Billion, Six Hundred and Sixty-Three Million, Eight Hundred and Forty-Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifty-Five Naira, Sixty-Three Kobo (N1,023,663,842,255.63k) between January and June 2024.
Comptroller Babatunde Olomu, the Customs Area Controller, Apapa Port Command, who made this known in his mid-year press briefing on Monday, July 8, 2024 noted that this milestone recorded by the Command shows “an increase of 143% above the figures of Four Hundred and Twenty-One Billion, Three Hundred and Eighty-Two Million, One Hundred and Sixty-Six Thousand, Three Hundred and Seventy-Eight Naira, Forty-Six Kobo collected in the corresponding period in 2023”.
Comptr. Olomu said “Since assuming office on May 6, 2024, the thrust of my leadership has been robust intelligence gathering for enhanced revenue collection backed with deliberately improved customs-community relations hence our efforts at promoting trade facilitation are yielding good results with attendant ease of doing business, prevention of revenue losses, and closer interactions with sister government agencies and private sector stakeholders, including members of the host communities in which we operate.
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“We are also not leaving anything to chance for economic saboteurs as our Non Intrusive Inspection (NII) regime is fully in place where scanners are deployed for cargo examination with support of physical examination where and when necessary”.
According to him, this collection is coming despite a sharp reduction in the volume of trade, it is necessary to note that extra measures have been put in place to prevent losses of government revenue, such as setting up a Revenue Recovery Committee comprising of seasoned and dedicated officers with a mandate to carry out more detailed look into areas of leakages, especially in bonded terminals under Apapa Command”.
In the area of trade facilitation, the CAC Apapa Customs Command disclosed that he applied a blend of intelligence with community relations for better awareness of our operating environment to achieve greater trade facilitation and fight criminality.
“I have a team of dedicated officers charged with the responsibility of addressing all complaints or disputes within record time before escalation to my office for prompt action. My office is open for everyone to discuss anything that will facilitate legitimate trade and promote government interest at all times, including receiving information on suspected smuggling activities” he reaffirmed.
In the area of Anti-Smuggling activities Comptroller Olomu confirmed that
“Within the period under review, we made seizures of eleven (11) containers comprising of prohibited items such as expired and unregistered pharmaceuticals, footwears, used clothing, armored cables, frozen poultn/ products etc., with a Duty Paid Value of Four hundred and Twenty-Four Million, One Hundred and Five Thousand, Nine Hundred and Seventy-Five nairaN (N424,105,975.00) as against 42 seizures with a DPV of N1.4 billion made in the corresponding period in 2023.
“It is pertinent to mention that just last week, we uncovered a large quantity of expired and unregistered pharmaceuticals in 3x40ft container numbers TCKU 6928184, MRKU 4422733, MRSU 5550243, and another 3x40ft container nos. MNBU 3934925, MEDU 9107559 and MEDU 9752980 loaded with seven thousand five hundred and eighty (7,580) cartons of frozen poultry products unfit for human consumption, which is against schedule 3 of the revised import prohibition list of the Common External Tariff (CET). These importations violate section 233 of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023.
“Let me state that the harmful effects of fake and unregistered pharmaceutical products on citizens are unquantifiable and as a responsible service, we owe Nigerians the duty of preventing them from being exposed to this dangerous importation.
“I want to use this opportunity to sound a note of warning to perpetrators of smuggling, duty evasion and other forms of criminality frowned upon by the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 and other extant laws, that Apapa Command is poised to nip illicit importation in the bud. Consequently, in line with the CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi’s zero tolerance for smuggling, I have reformed the Command way of treating transience by ensuring more meticulous management of cargoes moving from the mother port to bonded terminals. This has become necessary to prevent a situation where smugglers attempt to perpetuate illegalities in bonded terminals.
To sustain this tempo, no cargo is allowed to exit from our control without thorough inspection using the scanner. We shall not compromise on this as we will keep making seizures, detention and arrests where necessary to protect the national economy and prevent Nigerians from exposure to dangerous or unwholesome products like illicit drugs” Comptroller Olomu reiterated.
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