Oluyinka Onigbinde
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said on Thursday that it collected N2,240,880,308,195.77 for the year 2021.
In a statement released by the Service’s Public Relations Officer; Comptroller Joseph Attah, the Nigeria Customs Service also indicated that the N2.24Trillion was far and above the target of N1,678,715,016,014.00 that was set for the year.
It also represents an increase of 43.45 percent when compared with the N1,562,115,419,216.32 collected in 2020.
The service also disclosed that electronic take-off of its processes is now at the stage of final signing of agreement.
Commenting on the revenue haul, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col, Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) described it as a result of resolute pursuit of what is right and willingness to adapt to changes brought about by global health challenges occasioned by covid-19.
According to him, the service revenue collection profile has continued to be on the rise annually as the ongoing reforms in the Service insist on a strategic deployment of officers strictly using the standard operating procedure.
He attributed to soaring revenue profile to strict enforcement of extant guidelines by the tariff and trade department, and automation of the Customs process thereby eliminating vices associated with the manual process.
There has also been a robust stakeholder sensitization resulting in more informed/voluntary compliance. This is in addition to an increased disposition of officers and men to put national interest above selves.
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In the statement, the Customs spokesperson disclosed that its efforts have resulted in the seizures of 5,096 assorted items with a duty paid value of N13,796,646,685.60 and arrests of 160 suspects at different levels of investigation or prosecution.
He listed other achievements to include, the installation of three new scanners in Apapa, Tin-Can Island and Onne Ports.
He added that the Service has also been able to introduce mobile tracker in its operations to ensure mobile application that enables individuals to remotely validate any declaration/payment and most importantly the status of any vehicle/cargo at any point. It can be installed in mobile devices.
The service listed other landmark achievements in 2021 that are capable of boosting national security and economy to include the introduction of Standard Operating Procedure for the use of scanners, acquisition of rugged, gun trucks to secure anti-smuggling operatives in an increasingly hostile environment.
According to the statement, all these are expected to impact positively on trade facilitation, fight smuggling, block revenue leakages and significantly impact on revenue generation and national security.
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