FG Ban On Tiles Cuts Tin Can Customs Revenue by 40% —-Spokesperson

Federal Government’s ban on foreign exchange for importation of tiles may have caused the sudden drop in the monthly revenue figure of the Tin Can Command of the Nigeria Customs Service by 40%.
Disclosing this to Shipping Position Daily in Lagos yesterday, Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr. Chris Osunkwo said that tile importation constitutes 60% of the overall revenue collection of the Tin Can Island Port.
He lamented that since government restricted tile importers from accessing foreign exchange‎, importation of the commodity through Tin Can port has dropped drastically and with it the commands revenue.
“In January we collected N24.8billion, in February we collect N16.4 there was a drop, in March by God’s grace we hope to hit N17billion or N18billion because it is still dropping based on the economic policies”
“We are expected to generate N1.5billion every day, but sometimes we struggle to meet N700Million or N1billion”
“Tiles constitute 60% of Tin Can Island Port Command total revenue, and now‎, foreign exchange has been restricted for tile importers. I cannot remember the last time there was a tile import here, but before it used to be shiploads” Osunkwo lamented.
He maintained that in a month, more than 4,000 containers of tiles are handled at Tin Can Port alone.
Speaking on the ban on rice importation through the land borders, Osunkwo expressed hope that the command might be able to shore up its revenue collection through importation of rice in containers.
‎He recalled that immediately the import ban was lifted few months ago, many importers deserted the command for the borders.‎
“But with this reversal, we hope to make more revenue. But we don’t even need rice in containers; it is ship loads that we want”, he said.