Olomu attributes feat to blockage in revenue leakages, dedicated officers.
Funso Olojo
In what appears to be an ironic scenario. the Apapa command of the Nigeria Customs Service has generated a whooping sum of N1,023,663,842,255.63 within the first six months of the year 2024 amidst dwindling cargo throughput.
Disclosing this during a press conference on Monday, July 8th, 2024, the Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Babatunde Olomu, said the revenue figure was 143 percent above the figure of N421.382 billion realised in the corresponding period in 2023.
According to Comptroller Olomu, the revenue feat was achieved through dogged efforts and determination of his officers and the command’s intentional measures to block all identifiable revenue leakages.
However, the half-year revenue figures recorded by the command were made during a sharp drop in imports which stakeholders said stood logic on its head and feared that trade facilitation may have been sacrificed on the altar of revenue generation.
But Comptroller Olomu dispelled such fears, saying Apapa command was passionate about trade facilitation.
“Since assuming office on May 6, 2024, the thrust of my leadership has been intelligence gathering for enhanced revenue collection backed with deliberately improved customs-community relations.
“I am pleased to report that 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.
“We are also not leaving anything to chance for economic saboteurs as our nonintrusive inspection (NII) regime is fully in place where scanners are deployed for cargo examination with support of physical examination where and when necessary” Olomu declared.
In the same breath, the command made seizures of 11 containers comprising of prohibited items such as expired and unregistered pharmaceuticals, footwear, used clothing, armored cables, and frozen poultry products.
The seized items have a Duty Paid Value of 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 are 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’s zero tolerance for smuggling, I have reformed the command way of treating transires 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 stated.
Olomu expressed his appreciation to Adewale Adeniyi, the Comptroller General of the service and his management team for their support which he said provided the much-needed tonic that propelled the command to record such a milestone in revenue collection.
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