By Francis Ugwoke As harsh as the economy is currently, the Nigerian maritime industry appears to be the pride of the nation. Adjudged as next to the oil sector, the maritime industry is gradually becoming the only hope for the nation. With dwindling oil fortunes, the shipping sector is playing a good role, leading as it would appear in what is being shared regularly between the federal and state governments. It does not matter that the federal government has in its fiscal policies strangulated import business in its efforts to promote export trade and indeed self reliance on home-made goods. Yet, it is currently the revenue generated from the nation’s ports that appears to be part of what is sustaining the country in recent times. One has heard of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) revealing that it is overburdened with the payment of oil subsidy and therefore nothing to share on monthly basis. The oil subsidy is costing the country N4trillion and would be over N6trillion in 2023 when government plans to drop the policy. Customs to the Rescue The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is among the agencies of the federal government that have done the maritime industry proud. The Service no doubt with its own issues has continued to declare huge revenues generation from different commands. It is the same for seizures being recorded also from different commands. The Service was given a revenue target of about N3trillion this year. So far, it has been able to record an impressive revenue drive as at August this year. The Service generated N1.7tn from January to August this year. Report indicates that this was N363,436,321,614.95 higher than N1,391,950,164,775.97 the Service collected during the same period last year. National Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi, disclosed the Service seized goods worth N39.174bn as a result of regulatory and policy infringements by the importers. This was between January and June this year.
In the statement, Customs Service said it remains optimistic on achieving the revenue target set for it by government.
The scenario in the Customs is such that every command appears to be running a hard race with huge successes being recorded. This is the situation in Lagos.
COMPT. BOMAI PTML Customs At its half year report, the Ports Terminal Multiservices Limited (PTML) Customs Command announced a total revenue generation of N117,568,218,513.00 for the half year. The figure according to the Command’s PRO, SC Yakubu Muhammad is 12.3% over and above the sum of N104,649,202,251.00 during the same period last year. This was under the leadership of Comptroller Festus Oyedele Okun as the Area Controller. Okun has been replaced by a new Controller, Comptroller Suleiman Bomai, who promises to keep the flag flying. On taking over from Okun, Bomai pledged to ensure that the PTML Command’s laudable revenue collection profile, trade facilitation, customs community relations and non- compromise on duties collection continue.
TIN CAN CUSTOMS COMPTROLLER OLOYEDE
Tin Can Command The Tin Can Command of the Customs as at June declared a revenue of N274.3bn and seizures which duty paid value were put at N1.3bn. The Command’s former Public Relations Officer, Mr Uche Ejesieme in a statement said this figure represents 27.50 per cent increase from last year’s collection of N229,321,865,091.16. Comptroller Olakunle Oloyede said some measures were put in place to be able to generate as much revenue as the Command did . Oloyede said, “We have also strengthened the risk management structure to mitigate the consistent attempts by some non-compliance agents to abuse the process through acts of commercial fraud such as falsification of documents and forgery of signature”. He disclosed that the VIN-Valuation played a big role as it assisted the Command to robust clearance process. The Tin Can Command recorded a number of seizures. These include 145kg of Colorado (Indian hemp) concealed in two units of Ridgeline trucks and two units of Toyota Corolla vehicles, 206,000 pieces of machetes, 640 bales of used clothes, 236,500 pieces of used shoes, 62,500 pieces of new lady’s shoes, 1,670,400 pieces of Chloroquine injections (5mg/5ml), 1,814,400 pieces Novalgin injection (5mg/5ml), 48,850 rolls of cigarettes and 23,800 tins of sodium bromate and baking powder.
Yusuf(middle) and others inspecting seizures Strike Force Zone A As part of its efforts to ensure zero tolerance on smuggling and other illegalities, the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) Strike Force, recorded N7.4bn worth of seizures in six months. The Coordinator of the Unit, Deputy Comptroller, Muhammad Sani Yusuf, said the seizures include 8,000 bags of rice loaded in 13 trucks, 1x40ft container of Tramadol, Sildenafil citrate, 1613 bottles of 100ml Codeine, 1079 bales of secondhand clothing, 3,695 pieces of used tyres, 966 slabs of Donkey skin, 77,760 pairs of new Ladies shoes, 5,250 pairs of used shoes and 197 logs of wood. He also said that through meticulous checks on import documents, the Unit recovered the sum of N3,140,758,599) through issuance of demand notices between January and June this year. Yusuf also said that between July and August the Unit also recovered another N2bn from issuance of DN.
Yusuf Malanta Apapa Customs Command For the premier port, Apapa, the Customs Command announced revenue generation of N522.4bn. The figure according to the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Malanta Yusuf, represents 50 per cent of the command’s revenue target of N1.27trillion for the whole year. He also added that the amount generated represents 42.5 percent increase compared with N366.5billion collected during the same period in 2021. The Command also recorded seizures of 83 containers with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N8.3billion during the period. Among the seizures were 32 containers of processed and unprocessed wood; five containers of unregistered pharmaceuticals; 18 containers of used clothes/shoes and 12 containers of foreign parboiled rice, seven containers of vegetable oil; three containers of tomato paste and one container of tramadol. 21 suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures.
Jibo (middle) displaying seizures Seme Customs Command The Controller of the Seme Customs Command, Compt. Mohammed Jibo, has been at war with smugglers. Jibo recently announced seizure of 139 cartons of expired soft drinks, among others. The Command also seized 325,950 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) worth over 10 tankers of 33,000litres each. At a press conference, Jibo said “The continuous surveillance of the beaches and creeks by our men, has yet recorded another huge interception of one thousand, six hundred (1,600) Jerry cans of petroleum product of 30 litres each. “The arrest was made at the late hours of Tuesday, 7 June 2022 along Seme- Badagry waterways.” The Command also seized illicit drugs. The items include tramadol – 120 milligrams, 2.8 kilograms, 306 parcels of cannabis sativa and 132 packets of tramadol capsules” which combined Duty Paid Value (DPV) was put N1.bn. Customs FOU Zone A Ikeja Another Unit of the Customs whose operatives have remained clog on the wheel of smugglers was the Federal Operations Unit Zone A . The Unit recorded N7.1 billion between January and June this year. The acting Controller of the unit, Hessein K. Ejibunu, said that during the period, 103 suspected smugglers were arrested. He said, “Successes recorded in the anti-smuggling drives are products of sustained vigilance and intelligence deployment within the ports and border corridors. “Thirdly, I must also com¬mend personnel’s profession¬alism in compliance with the extant regulations” Apart from the customs Commands in Lagos which recorded different revenue and seizures, other Commands in the Eastern ports and other parts of the country also performed excellently with optimism that the revenue target of N3trillion may be achieved.
