Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, Apapa Area Command said it has recorded an increase of 11 percent in their annual revenue target.
The record shows that a total of N413 billion was collected from January to December 19, 2019, surpassing the annual revenue target of N372 billion set by the Command.
In a statement signed by the Comptroller Area Command, CAC, Comptroller Mohammed Abba-kura, it further revealed that the Command had earlier surpassed the 2018 annual revenue.
During the 2019 period the Command seized a total of 112 containers of goods with a Duty Paid Value, DPV, of N12.8 billion, which violated the imports regulations.
The various items seized include: pharmaceutical products, tomato paste, rice, vegetable oil, footwear, armoured glasses without End User Certificate, EUC, as well as drilling pipes with foreign label.
The Command furthermore, recorded a total of 262,095.09 metric tons of exports with Free on Board, FOB, value of N40 billion within the period under review.
Speaking on these achievements, Abba-kura said that the year has been quite eventful especially with the onerous efforts of the Customs Intelligence Unit, CIU, Valuation Unit, among others.
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He added that 400 officers whom were specially trained by the Command in general aspect of operations, played significant role in the Command’s recorded success.
He stated: “In our quest to deliver efficient service delivery to our esteemed stakeholders and in line with the Comptroller-General of Customs’ mandate, the Command under my leadership came up with a deliberate and well coordinated strategy that trained over 400 officers in general aspect of our operations with a view to maximizing their productivity.
“The results we are seeing today is the product of that training and in addition to other mechanisms like 24 hours dispute resolution, maintaining an open and accessible door policy to address complains, constant engagement with the stakeholders, as well as support by the Customs management and other sister agencies operating within the port”.
Abba-kura, however, appealed to the importers of pharmaceutical products to comply with import guidelines in order to eradicate illicit drugs flooding the country.
“I wish to make a special appeal to the importers of pharmaceutical products to respect and comply with the country’s guidelines on importation of these products to rid the nation of prohibited drugs”, he noted.
