Not less than N1, 032, 601, 044, 744 worth of exports have been facilitated by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in six months at Nigeria’s second busiest seaport, Tin Can Island Port (TCIP), the Customs Area Controller (CAC), TCIP, Comptroller Dera Nnadi has said.
The move is part of the measures put in place by the Customs High Command to balance Nigeria’s foreign trade since the beginning of the year.
Nnadi who disclosed this during the command’s half year press briefing which took place recently at the secretariat of the Maritime Reporter’s Association of Nigeria (MARAN) at Apapa, Lagos noted that the high export figures for 2024 was due to the high degree of stakeholders’ engagement.
He also attributed the increase in exports through TCIP to the improvement in the port access roads, improved efficiency of NCS personnel and as well as innovations put in place by the command.
His words: “The total Free On Board (FOB) value of NXP for commercial goods exported through Tin Can Island Ports in the first half of 2024 is N1,032,601,044,744.00 and a total volume of 489,594.50 Metric Tons (MT) as against export value of 1st half 2023 of N182,333,764,943.00 with a total volume of 291,436MT.”
“In terms of value, Soya beans was the highest export commodity worth N92,059,078,980.00 while self-adhesive was the lowest export commodity with a value of N17,560,865.00.”
The Customs Chief also revealed that the TCIP command of the NCS generated N575 billion revenue in the first six months of 2024 which represents 221.13% increase when compared to the amount generated in the period under review in 2023.
Continuing, he said: “This 2024 half-year revenue represents an increase of N315, 248,670,683.90bn from the sum of N260,256,942,120.69bn revenue generated in the corresponding period in 2023. This aligned with the statutory functions of the Service in the areas of revenue generation, trade facilitation and enforcement/ anti-smuggling activities.”
“Customs, being the lead agency at the ports through its enforcement unit has coordinated several 100% physical examination under my supervision in collaboration with critical stakeholders to ensure that the command is freed of any form of non-compliance to the international trade cycle”
On seizures, he said some of the items seized include three plastic drums concealing several packets of Cannabis Indica, 46 bags containing 2144 packets of Cannabis Indica all weighing 1,072kg imported from Canada. The approximate street value of the illicit substances is N3, 216,000,000.00 valued at N3.216billion.
According to him, the total duty paid value (DPV) of all the seizures amounted to N8.9billion. The significance of the seizures is not in the amount but the ability to stop the injection of those illicit drugs, arms and ammunitions into Nigeria.
The CAC noted that there have been modest gains and developments at TCIP since the launch of the Time Release Study (TRS) at TCIP.
He revealed that the findings will be formally made public by the Comptroller General of NCS, Alhaji Bashir Adewale Adeniyi before the end of the year.
He called for more stakeholders’ involvement in the TRS initiative just as he announced that MARAN has been co-opted as one of NCS strategic partners to ensure the attainment of NCS set goals and objectives.
