John Iwori
The various initiatives put in place by the Federal Government to address the some of the challenges facing the nation’s seaports have yielded more results in Tin Can Island Port, Apapa, Lagos.
Besides blocking the loopholes in the cargo clearance chain which have led to a significant reduction in the number of concealment and under-declaration, these measures have also led to an increase in the quantity of agricultural commodities exports in the first quarter of 2018.
Already, the agricultural produce has topped the list with 38,517 metric tons (MT) of cashew nuts, rubber, hibiscus flower, cocoa butter, sesame seed, processed wood, frozen shrimps and processed leather were exported.
The free on board (FOB) value stood at N22.435 billion while 6,945MT of processed and manufactured goods were exported during the same period with FOB value of N6.711 billion.
The finished goods exported were empty bottles, biscuit, cigarette, polyethylene, billets, soap, hair cream and tissue paper.
These were disclosed by the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Tin Can Island Port Command, Comptroller Abdullahi B. Musa while giving a breakdown of the command activities in the first quarter of 2018 at the command headquarters, Apapa, Lagos.
The Customs Chief also revealed that 45,462 MT were exported through the port between January to March 2018.
Comparing the export record of the command in the first quarter of 2018 with 2017, the CAC said there was an appreciable improvement of 558.46 percent in terms of volume and 402.24 percent in terms of FOB value over 8,140.6MT with FOB of N7.246 billion processed in the same period in 2017.
Within the period under review, the command generated a sum of N104.5 billion as against a projection of N116 billion, with a performance rate of 90.09 percent.
Similarly, the command generated N82.154 billion in the same period in 2017.
He attributed the feat to the establishment of standard operating procedure, blocking of areas of revenue leakages and transformation of revenue collection and reporting system.
His words: “Tin Can Island Command is committed to the transformation of our revenue collection and reporting system with the implementation of NICIS II with additional functionality which is an upgrade of the NICIS I. As part of the specific gains with the implementation we have the biometric access system and introduction of a ‘one-stop shop’ which will enable treatment of declarations with valuations, classification and other related clearance issues/queries.”
Musa explained that the automation of the cargo examination in the port is designed to ensure transparency in the inspection and there is a further improvement on the vehicle valuation system with the attachment of the Valuation Note issued to the SGD in the system.
“This will enable a quick verification of assessment and duty payment. Ultimately the full automation of the vehicle valuation will soon be achieved. To quicken cargo clearance in the port, the command has intensified effort under the Federal Government Presidential Initiative on Ease of Doing Business to improve cargo clearance as some goods are being cleared from the port within six hours”, he said.
On seizures, he revealed that the command seized two containers (1by40 and 1by20) of Tramadol Hydrochloride (225mg) which were declared as electrical static converters and ciprofloxacin.
Others were 3by40 containers of e-waste, 5by40 containers of second hand clothing and 1by40 container of used tyre popularly called tokunbo. The items have a total duty paid value (DPV) of N124 million.
