The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service says it recorded N4.330, 670,435.29 between January and June 2014, which is an increase of about N3, 981,596,977.52 over what it collected in 2013.
The command also made 467 seizures with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N196, 276,657.00 within the period under review.
The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service says it recorded N4.330, 670,435.29 between January and June 2014, which is an increase of about N3, 981,596,977.52 over what it collected in 2013.
The command also made 467 seizures with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N196, 276,657.00 within the period under review.
In a statement made available to Shipping Position Daily last week by the Command’s Public Relations Officer; Ernest Olottah , he quoted the Controller of the command, Comptroller Willy Egbudin as saying that despite the challenges, the command
has achieved higher level of suppression of smuggling and related offences
through increased enforcement activities and enlightenment
of the border communities.
Egbudin stated that 2014 has lot of expectations not only to meet revenue target but also to surpass it, as it was done in December 2013.
He noted that in Januaryve the command observed a decline in the volume of trade,even as he stated that this has been the trend every year.
However, the comptroller stressed that the dwindling volume of trade in subsequent months was of serious concern to the Customs Service and concerted efforts were made to block all perceived sources of revenue leakages to boost collection.
The Seme Command boss also reiterated that: “We have the zeal to collect much more but, for the decreasing volume of trade which may not be unconnected with the restriction of certain commodities from being imported through the land border.
“ Some people had attributed some of the causes of the declining level of trade
to the harsh economic situation in some neighbouring countries. However, we will do all that is necessary to meet our revenue target and surpass it.’’
Speaking on exportation within the border zone, Comptroller Egbudin stated that: ‘’The export section is not revenue yielding like the import because of the Federal Government policy aimed at boosting exportation of made in Nigeria goods. The officers in the section had been trained and re-trained and appropriate measures put in place to ensure a conducive environment for exportation.
He noted that firms in Nigeria have taken advantage of this to export their products to other markets in the West African sub region.
According to him, “Some of the goods exported during the period include: plastics, furniture, fruit drinks in retail packs, mattress, beer, slippers among others , adding that the Free On Board (FOB) value of the goods exported during the period under review amount to N4,909,012,148.95, while the total amount due for the Nigeria Export
Supervision Scheme (NESS) is N24,556,594.35.
He urged the trading public to shun smuggling, fraud, false declaration and to embrace legitimate trading, pointing out that goods and vehicles can be cleared at Seme Command in less than eight hours if importers can make genuine and honest declaration.
Egbudin stated that, “we are not unaware of the various ploys of the smugglers to outwit us but, we will always be ahead of them through effective and strategic deployment of our operatives and proper intelligence information sharing and management.
‘’For those who dared to test our resolve, their attempts were not only foiled with their goods seized, we also made arrest of 18 suspected smugglers who are presently at various stages of investigation, and prosecution. We are also ready to do more in our drive to frustrate and stamp out the crime for the good of our national economy and improvement.
He further reiterated that, “despite coming under constant harassment, threat and attack by suspected smugglers, we commend our operatives for their resilience. With a view to portray us as not working, some of the suspected smugglers or barons go as far as sponsoring articles against us with a lot of innuendos in the media.’’
‘’ This is unfortunate but, we will not retreat or shirk our responsibility as the various measures we have put in place have been yielding good results. Increasing number of people are now abandoning the illicit trade of smuggling for legitimate trades.’’
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