About N34 billion was generated by the Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service in the export of agricultural produce between January and March 2022.
Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Yusuf Malanta, who disclosed said the amount is N4billion higher in the same period last year.
Malanta addressing a press briefing at the weekend, added that the revenue profile of the command in the first quarter of 2022 is N264.54bn, which is a significant increase of N104bn as against N159bn in 2021, a 65.7 percent increase in terms of revenue collection.
Malanta said the Free On Board (FOB) value of the export is $87.992m from exportation of agricultural goods, which include mineral resources, steel, etc, as against N30.2bn (FOB value of $82.1m) between January and March 2021.
He said, “This feat was made possible because of our officers’ creativity and leveraging on the service IT platform to ensure all revenue leakages have been mitigated, as well as sustaining the level of compliance by the importers/stakeholders in the clearance value chain.”
The controller said the command recorded 46 seizures of various items with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N1,142,876,606.00, indicating 18 seizures more than 28 made in the corresponding months of the year 2021.
The seizures include unregistered medicaments such as tramadol and codeine syrup, unprocessed wood, used clothing, footwear, foreign parboiled rice and other sundry items that contravene sections 46 and 47 of Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) CAP C45 LFN 2004.
The CAC said: “Anti-smuggling activities have been a matter of central concern in the command, particularly with the activities of recalcitrant traders who are always looking for ways to undermine our system. The enforcement unit has been strengthened through strict monitoring, enhanced collaboration and sharing of credible intelligence with relevant government agencies to suppress smuggling activities to their barest minimum.
“At this juncture, let me reiterate that Apapa Command is always ready to assist in facilitating legitimate trade and ensuring that all forms of smuggling activities through a false declaration on import/export done in defiance to extant trade guidelines will be detected through our layers of control mechanism.”
