Not less than N162 billion has been rake in by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Tin Can Island Command in the last six months.
The amount generated by the command from January to June, 2018 showed an increase of about N32 billion over the figure for the same period last year which was N130,006,136, 996.36.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the command, Mr Uche Ejesieme who revealed this in a press statement obtained by Maritime Bits in a press statement said the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Musa Baba Abdullahi released the figures during a chat with some stakeholders in his office.
Ejesieme quoted his boss saying emphatically that the command has been repositioned as the most business friendly port wherein all compliant declarants will be duly compensated and given special preference.
His words: “We are deploying multi-layered approach in addressing the issues of compliance which is a panacea to trade facilitation, through reward for compliance and ensuring that compliant declarants are given expeditious attention in line with the presidential directive on Ease of Doing Business.”
He noted that the command was at the verge of fully automating key seats to enable seamless operations as he made reference to the just concluded training of officers on E-Transire and NSA-End User Certificate Procedure.
Abdullahi disclosed that the command effected seizure of assorted offending items including used clothing, children toys, assorted furniture, bags of rice, shoes, handbags, used vehicles.
According to him, the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the seized items was put at N138,752,991. The figure was higher than that of last year which was N 88,062,250.
He stated that the command was in steady progression in all aspects of its primary functions and urged stakeholders to take advantage of the various complaints platforms in channelling their genuine grievances for necessary action.
The Customs Chief recalled that during the period under review, the command also effected seizures of large quantity of ammunition and other military hardware during scheduled examinations and promised that the command will not lower its guards in ensuring that such illicit consignments do not pass through it undetected.
He expressed appreciation for the support of the Comptroller General of Customs, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali (retired) for his support for the command. He also lauded the NCS management, officers and men of the command and those he called “compliant stakeholders” for their support during the period under reference.
The CAC pointed out that the command will continue to leverage on the already harnessed competences of its hard working personnel to carve a niche and remain outstanding in the performance of its statutory mandate.
“We are encouraged by the steady progress in compliance by the importers and we are optimistic that the trend will continue to show appreciable response”, he said.
On the recurring issues of multiple alerts due to non-compliance with the fiscal policies, the CAC while charging importers/agents on honest declarations, assured that with the take-off of the “one-stop-shop” area under construction, the issue of multiple alerts would become history.
He posited that the command remains committed to the change mantra of the NCS boss and will not renege on its statutory roles and responsibilities, especially anti-smuggling, revenue generation and trade facilitation.
