The Apapa Area Command of the Nigerian Customs Service has declared a total collection of ₦86,022,748,549.77 as revenue for the month of October 2021.
This is contained in a statement by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Abubakar Usman.
The Command said the increase in revenue was due to sustained volume of trade and strategies employed by the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Malanta Yusuf, who has encouraged stakeholders’ compliance level, and inter- agency collaborations between Apapa Customs Command and other government agencies.
The Command’s breakdown of the total collection shows that “Figures under the Federation Account are as follows: Import duty at ₦38,436,536,897.00; Excise duty at ₦199,038,533.00; CET Levy at ₦5,625,077,502.00; and Fees at ₦401,830,622.00. All of these come in at a sub total of N44,662,483,554.00.
“Figures for the Non-federation Account are as follows: Port Levy at ₦2,690,572,938.00; NAC at ₦165,872,139.00; 1% CISS at ₦4,612,963,465.00; 0.5% ETLS at ₦2,688,286,656.00; Sugar Levy at ₦598,518,814.00; Wheat Flour Levy at ₦488,959.00; Iron Levy at ₦47,220,994.00; Wheat Grain Levy at ₦7,892,567,890.00; Ness Levy at ₦102,989,524.77.All of these at a sub-total of ₦18,799,481,379.77.
“For Value Added Tax, the command collected ₦22,560,783,616.00 leading to a grand total of ₦86,022,748,549.77.”
Controller of the Command, Comptroller Yusuf, commended most port users and stakeholders for their increasing level of compliance and urged them to continually avoid unlawful activities such as concealments with intent to smuggle; false declaration and under valuation to evade accurate duty payments.
He, however, made it clear that “any importation that runs contrary to the provisions of sections 46 and 47 of Customs and Excise Management Act CAP C45 LFN 2004 and Customs and Excise Notices No.1491 would not be allowed into the country.”
He said the command would not compromise wherever and whenever the need arose for arrests and seizures for infractions deserving of such actions
He further charged the command’s compliance team to maintain their zero tolerance for infractions as a way of protecting the national economy.
The CAC also described the inter agency collaborations between Apapa Customs and other government agencies as an operational masterstroke yielding great results.
Making reference to recent joint seizures of 32.9kg of cocaine uncovered in a vessel, MV Cha Yanee Naree, in Apapa Port in October, and 74.119kg of captagon pills hidden in various components of machine parts, which was seized in September, Comptroller Yusuf lauded the sustained intelligence sharing between the command and sister agencies like the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria Police, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army and others.
He said only importers and agents who either want to smuggle or evade duty payments would fault the command and its growing synergies with other agencies which are strengthened through collaborations.
He also advised all importers and agents to take advantage of the one stop shop compliance and dispute resolution mechanism aimed at achieving trade facilitation without compromising national revenue and security.
