By Adegboyega Oni
The Nigeria Customs Service says Nigeria received a total of N78,643,231,290.00 in nine months (January to September 2020) on goods which were exported through Lagos Port Complex, Apapa, on Free On Board (FOB) worth of $257,003,965.00.
In September alone, the country exported goods with a tonnage of 378,447,000 that worth N26,273,706,822.00 on FOB values of $85,861,787.00. The goods exported included mineral resources, steel bars, agricultural products and others.
The Apapa Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service in Lagos disclosed the figures while reviewing its activities in the third quarter of 2020.
In the area of revenue generation, the Controller of the command, Comptroller Mohammed Abba-Kura stated that the command collected a sum of N140,335,570,076.38 as customs duty and charges between July and September into the federation coffers.
“In comparison to the revenue collected same period in 2019 which stood at One hundred and Ten billion, Two hundred and Fifty-four million, One hundred and Eighty-one thousand, Two hundred and Ninety-five naira and thirty-seven kobo (N110,254,181,295.37). This clearly shows a progressive difference of Thirty billion, Eighty-one million, Three hundred and Eighty-eight thousand, Seven hundred and Eighty-one thousand and One kobo (N30,081,388,781.01), depicting 27% increase of collection for the period under review.
“Furthermore, in detailing the revenue collection of the Command from January-September, 2020 the sum of Three hundred and Sixty-seven billion, Six hundred and Eighty-two million, Six hundred and sixteen thousand, Three hundred and nine naira and Twenty-three kobo (N367,682,616,309.23) was collected and remitted to the federation account as against Three hundred and thirteen billion, Five hundred and Eighteen million, Two hundred and thirty-five thousand, Nine hundred and Seventy-eight naira and Six kobo (313,518,235,978.06) collected same period in 2019. This shows a significant increase difference of N54,164,380,331.17 representing 17 percent increase.
“The difference recorded was made possible as a result of resilience of officers in ensuring that importers and agents are made to do proper declarations, adhere strictly to import/export guidelines in tandem with extant laws,” said Comptroller Abba-Kura.
Comptroller Abba-Kura disclosed that one hundred and eighty-seven (187) containers of pharmaceutical products and other general goods such as foreign parboiled rice, secondhand clothing and others with a duty paid value of N3,640,894,888.00 were seized from July 1st to September 30th.
According to him, from January to September, 2020 the command seized a total of 328 containers of various goods with DPV of nineteen billion, five hundred and forty five million, eight hundred and forty nine thousand, one hundred and eight naira (19,545,849,108.00) as against 37 containers seized in the same period in 2019 with a DPV of less than 3 billion naira.
The Controller noted that the items were seized mainly because of various forms of infractions which range from false declarations, non-adherence to import/export guidelines and failure to comply with other extant regulations as enshrined in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA).
While calling partners in the clearance value chain to always brace up to the emerging challenges, Comptroller Abba-Kura charged his officers and men of the command to remain focused and steadfast in discharging their assigned responsibilities.
Leave a Reply