COMPT. OLOMU STEPS UP TRADE FACILITATION ACTIVITIES AT APAPA COMMAND
… Rakes in N1.6tr in 3rd quarter (Q3)
/The Prestige Magazine/
The Apapa Command of Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) has collected One trillion, six hundred and ten billion, nine hundred and six million, seven hundred and eighty one thousand, four hundred and twenty one naira, eighty two kobo (N1,610,906,781,421.82k) as at the end of the third quarter (Q3) of 2024, which is higher than N1,172,414,793,960.32k that was collected as total revenue of the year 2023.
Compt. Babatunde Olomu, fsi, Customs Area Controller Apapa Command described the feat as a fallout of diligence and integrity and promised that the command would continually engage with stakeholders to improve on the revenue collection achievements and reduced smuggling rate recorded to the command’s credit.
The Controller identified the N201.8b collected in July 2024 and N193.9b in September 2024 as spectacular figures capable of being replicated again in the last quarter of the year beginning from October.
He said that the various trade facilitation programmes put in place by the Comptroller General of Customs Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, like Advance Ruling, Time Release Study and Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) are being dutifully implemented for the overall benefit of the nation’s economy.
Commending officers of the command for the achievement in revenue collection relying on diligent examination and uncompromising interventions through issuance of demand notices, where and when necessary, the Area Controller reiterated the CGC’s zero tolerance for smuggling.
According to the CAC, the Command shall continually engage with all stakeholders to sustain the rising level of compliance, which has resulted in reduced smuggling in the area.
He further stated that the strict monitoring of cargoes, constant profiling of port users, sensitization of stakeholders and in-house training and retraining of Customs officers have jointly and grossly contributed to the almost zero level of smuggling in recent times.
The CAC urged all port users in Apapa to avail themselves of the services of the Dispute Resolution Team to resolve all areas of uncertainty while reassuring licensed Customs agents, freight forwarders, importers, exporters and haulage operators of the command’s readiness to assist at all times.
He went further and thanked sister government agencies for their support and stated that the command would always leverage on its relationship with them to share intelligence against criminal elements, do joint examinations in line with extant standard operating procedures (SOPs) and promote compliance at all times.
In his words, “Our revenue collection is good, and I know we can do better with more impressive results in the last quarter of 2024. I want to thank our compliant stakeholders for their cooperation in supporting us to achieve this level of collection.
” Reduced smuggling activities is a testament to affirm the compliance we are celebrating, and I can say the best is yet to come. We are not losing guard. Our tempo of vigilance is airtight, which attests to our capacity to detect smuggling and make seizures.
” As we do trade facilitation, our anti smuggling activities are done side by side leveraging on our non intrusive technology for cargo scanning and physical examination when necessary. Let me also state that these standards and procedures are strictly adhered to in all bonded terminals under our control,” the Controller stated.
