Story by Dili Utomi.
“The dedication and ingenuity of our officers are the major contributory factors to us achieving this feat”. Those were some of the words that the Customs Area Controller of the Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller (Dr.) Babatunde Olomu used in describing the factors that gave rise to the Command beating the One Trillion Naira revenue mark in a mere six months.
Comptroller Olomu was speaking at the briefing that took place at the conference hall of the Command on Monday where he detailed this impressive achievements.
The CAC while briefing journalists harped on the encouragement that the Command receives from the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi and also added that “For the first half of 2024, that is between January-June, the command generated a total of One trillion, twenty-three billion, six hundred and sixty-three million, eight hundred and forty-two thousand, two hundred and fifty five naira, sixty three kobo (N1,023,663,842,255.63). This shows an increase of 143% above the figures of Four hundred and twenty-one billion, three hundred and eighty-two million, one hundred and sixty-six thousand, three hundred and seventy-eight-naira, forty-six kobo (N421,382,166,378.46) collected in the corresponding period in 2023”.
It should be noted that these record acheivement are made while the cargo through put is lower than what was obtained a few years back and importers are a bit nervous about bringing in goods.
Furthermore, Comptroller (Dr.) Olomu added that “I don’t run an open-door policy because for me, there is literally no door at all if you want to access my office. My office is open for everyone to discuss anything that will facilitate legitimate trade and promote government interest at all times, including receiving information on suspected smuggling activities”.
In the area of anti-smuggling activities and in the period under consideration, the Customs Command also made seizures of eleven (11) containers comprising of prohibited items such as expired and unregistered pharmaceuticals, footwear, used clothing, armoured cables, frozen poultry products etc., with a Duty Paid Value of Four hundred and twenty-four million, one hundred and five thousand, nine hundred and seventy-five naira (N424,105,975.00) only as against 42 seizures with a DPV of one billion four hundred million naira N1.4 billion made in the corresponding period in 2023.
Also uncovered was a large quantity of expired and unregistered pharmaceuticals in 3x40ft container numbers TCKU 6928184, MRKU 4422733, MRSU 5550243, and another 3x40ft container nos. MNBU 3934925, MEDU 9107559 and MEDU 9752980 loaded with seven thousand five hundred and eighty (7,580) cartons of frozen poultry products unfit for human consumption, which is against schedule 3 of the revised import prohibition list of the Common External Tariff (CET). These importations violate section 233 of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023.
The area head noted that “To sustain this tempo, no cargo is allowed to exit from our control without thorough inspection using the scanner”.
While praising sister agencies, CAC Olomu said “I commend the Nigeria Police, Department of State Service (DSS), NDLEA, NAFDAC, SON, NIS, NAQS, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and others for their support so far. We made progress together and will continue to collaborate in the national interest”.
Comptroller Olomu also encouraged compliant importers, exporters and all stakeholders to continue to take to the dictates of the extant laws of Nigeria, he also poured encomiums on the resilience of his officers and saluted the CG of Customs for his clarity of direction and the support accorded his command.
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