The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has generated a total sum of N486,728,302,625.00 between January to June 2017 as against N385,704,401,136.00 collected in the same period last year.
The Customs Service revealed this in a press statement made available to MMS Plus by the Customs Public Relations Officer (PRO), Joseph Attah last week.
The half year collection is to demonstrate NCS determination to meet the 2017 revenue target of N772,883,082,876.00, despite the challenging economic environment with negative consequences on international trade.
In the same vain, the Service’s reinvigorated anti-smuggling operations has yielded a total number of 3,798 seizures with a duty paid value (DPV) of N7,283,626,899.00 compared to 3,106 seizures with DPV of N4,975,204.88 in 2016.
This breakthrough is as a result of the “recent strategic steps by NSC to remove all obstacles to trade facilitation, block revenue leakages and redeployment of personnel to boost revenue generation” the statement read.
Meanwhile, in line with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council’s (PEBEC) drive to enhance the ease of doing business in Nigeria, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) has directed the immediate dismantling of all illegal check points across Nigeria.
The Customs boss reminded all commands that any check point mounted outside forty (40) kilometers to the land border is illegal, while information patrols beyond the 40km limit should not last more than 24 hours at any given time.
The statement further clarified that “the 40km radius applies to land borders, while no check point should be erected within the port areas”.
While directing Zonal Coordinators, Customs Area Controllers and operatives of Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) to ensure strict compliance, the Comptroller-General enjoins members of the business community to always comply with extant laws to help the NCS perform better.
