• Customs Collects N283billion Revenue
The Apapa area 1 command of the Nigeria Customs Service has said that there has been an increase in the amount of containers being scanned at the Apapa port as the command alone scanned a total of 18,489 containers in 2012.
According to the Controller of the command, Mr. Umar Muhammed who spoke at a press briefing in Lagos on Tuesday, activities at the scanning site proceeded exceedingly well last year and this cumulated into a quarterly increase in the number of containers scanned at Apapa premier port.
Apart from this, the Customs boss commended Nigerian importers for taking advantage of the post clearance audit unit (fast track) of the command, this is a tool created with the sole purpose of reducing the cost of doing business at the port. According to him, a total of 14,128 containers were exited from the port using the fast track method.
“Currently, 119 companies have availed themselves of this service and in so doing have achieved a monthly average of 1,177 containers exiting the ports under the scheme, a total of 14, 128 containers were exited using fast track in the period under review” he told pressmen at the command.
A breakdown of scanned containers at the port shows that, 3,390 were scanned for the first quarter with an average of 113 containers daily; the second quarter also recorded 4,225 with a daily average of 142 containers scanned.
For the third quarter, a total of 4,832 containers were scanned with a daily average of 161 containers and 6,042 containers scanned in the last quarter with an average of 201 containers scanned daily.
Comptroller Umar however pointed out the involvement of officers of the customs in the recorded achievement even as he said that officers were already working together with the destination inspection service providers on the scanning site as well as in their various offices with the hope of taking over from them in January this year.
Had the desire not been truncated by the federal government at the last minute, he said that customs would have performed excellently in destination inspection because many of the officers, including himself, had already gone through a training and each of them have already been apportioned different post that they will handle in 2013.
Even though the command was N40 billion short of the expected revenue target for last year, Compt. Umar disclosed that an unprecedented N283billion was collected as total revenue between January and December last year.
Speaking further, he explained that, "the goal of the command was to achieve 100% the target set for it by management in 2012, however due to circumstances outside its control, it was only able to collect 88% of anticipated revenue as it tried to balance revenue collection with enforcing fiscal policies".
Also giving account of the anti smuggling achievements of the command for the year, Compt. Umar said that the command made a total of 20 seizures which include; a 40-foot and 20-foot containers bearing furniture, electronics, used cars, car parts, textiles, and used engines among others. The total duty paid value of the seizures is placed at N173million.
In the area of export, he gave the total amount collected as N.129.9billion.
Other achievement of the command for last year according to the comptroller was the newly completed ultra modern gymnasium named after the Controller General of Customs Alhaji Inde Dikko Abdullahi.
According to Compt. Umar, the gymnasium is “designed to keep officers and men physically and mentally fit to carry out the huge responsibilities placed on them”.
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