The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has generated N1.1 trillion in 2018 (January to November) surpassing its 2017 revenue haul of N1.037trillion.
The National Spokesman of the Customs, Mr. Joseph Attah revealed this during a chat with journalists in Lagos on Monday, noting that the suppression of smuggling activities remain the most challenging task of Customs.
According to Attah, smuggling has a devastating effect on security and well being of the nation, especially as most of the items smuggled are used to perpetuate other illicit deals such as hard drugs, arms and ammunition; while others were crippling the nations economy and local manufacturing.
“As we strive to fight smuggling, we are often confronted with the following challenges: porous borders, non-cooperative attitude of some border dwellers, willingness of some Nigerians to help smugglers mob Customs operatives, lack of proper implementation of the ECOWAS protocol on transit goods by neighbouring countries, and use of motorcycles and animals to smuggle through different terrain” he said.
He stated that despite these challenges, the NCS has recorded 4,010 seizures with duty paid value of over N40bn. Outstanding among our seizures are arms, ammunition, dangerous drugs, vehicles and rice.
“You will recall that last month, the NCS announced seizures of 59 by 40feet containers of Tramadol and other controlled drugs across some commands of the Service. In line with the Federal Government policy on agriculture, a total number of 238,094 bags of 50Kg rice were seized across the country between January to November 2018.
“Concerning the e-auction platform of the NCS that was introduced since July 3rd, 2017, so far 806 vehicles were uploaded, and 753 winners have emerged. Also, N346,146,349 have been generated through the electronic platform.”
On the total revenue generated, the NCS Spokesman stated that: “Last year, while announcing the unprecedented revenue record of N1.037trillion, we had expressed hope of breaking that record. Today, I am happy to announce that between January to November 2018, the service has already broken the 2017 record by generating N1.1trillion into the coffers of the Federal Government.”
