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Customs collects N38.8b, nets N4.1b seizures in Onne - Edoman - 04-23-2021
Customs collects N38.8b, nets N4.1b seizures in Onne
•Kwara Strike Force Zone 513 seizes bags of foreign rice
April 22, 2021
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The Customs Area Controller (CAC) for Area ll Command, Onne Port, Rivers State, Comptroller Auwal Mohammed collected a total of N38,877,314,286.12 as revenue in the first quarter of the year.
The cash is 69.4 per cent higher than the N22,950,780,163.43 collected in the same period last year.
A breakdown of the 2021 monthly collections showed N12,123,024,011.82 for January; N12,760,546,062.07 for February and N13,984,744,212.23 for March.
All monthly collections for this year surpassed those of the first three months of last year with differences which hovered at slightly above N7billion monthly.
On anti-smuggling, the command recorded a total of 12 seizure with a cumulative duty paid of N4,120,882,608.03
The seizures comprises two units of used Mitsubishi buses; 210 bales of second hand clothing; 1,435 pcs of used tyres; used engine gear box and auto spare parts; 310 pallets of laser ketchup and 20 bales of fabrics.
A monthly breakdown of the seizures indicates that four seizures were made in January, which includes three containers and two suspects with duty paid value of N85,987,936.05.
In February, the command made three seizures involving four containers with total duty paid value of N45,527,836.00 while in March 2021 it made five seizures involving seven containers with duty paid value of N3,989,366,808.89
On export, the command processed 207,749.614 metric tonnes of cargoes with free-on-board value of $70,838,025.68, comprising cashew nuts, ginger, hibiscus flower, sesame seeds, zircon sand, palm kernel, tiger nuts, among others.
Similarly, the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, intercepted 42 drums of calcium carbide smuggled from Benin Republic.
Also, NCS Kwara State Command and Strike Force Zone B have seized 513 bags of foreign parboiled rice from suspected smugglers.
The command said it intercepted the contraband goods around Jekunu-Malete-Bani axis of Moro Local Government Area of the state.
Addressing reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, Strike Force Coordinator Olorukoba Aliyu put the duty paid value on the product at N22 million.
Aliyu, a Deputy Comptroller of Customs said the bags of rice were loaded in two Toyota Canter trucks, one with reg. No KCH 176 XA while the other one had none.
“A large quantity of foreign par boiled rice yet to be loaded into vehicles were also intercepted. On sighting the officers drivers of the two canter trucks abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene.
“After a short period, the driver mobilized a large mob of organized smugglers and errant youths armed with sticks, stones and locally made weapons, to attack the operatives but we immediately called for reinforcement from FOU, Customs Police, Joint Border Patrol Team (JBPT) and Kwara Area Command before we could evacuate and maneuver our way out,” he said.
The Onne Command chief said the feat recorded under his watch is the highest collection of N13 billion in its 38 year history. He urged officers to avoid being complacent and keep doing more to improve on national economy, security and trade facilitation.
Mohammed said: “We are doing well but I believe there are rooms for improvement in revenue collection, anti smuggling, trade facilitation and robust stakeholders’ engagements.
“Every likely or identified area of government revenue leakages should be blocked for us to sustain the tempo of maximum collections. We owe Nigeria a duty to make smuggling of prohibited items impossible through this command.
“Our ability to detect attempts at duty evasion and issuing demand notices to collect complete revenue from importers and their agents will be improved upon relying on technology and hands-on experience.
“Duty evaders should steer clear from this area as they are likely to be arrested with their wares seized in accordance with extant provision of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA)
“While we await the deployment of scanners to aid our job, the due diligence employed in physical examinations to achieve outstanding results will be sustained and improved upon.
“I hereby urge importers, exporters, licensed customs agents and freight forwarders interfacing with customs in Onne Port to see compliance as a key to unlock the many benefits derivable from their trade, investments and professions, the CAC said.
Speaking more on the intercepted explosives, Compt. Yahaya said: “We intercepted the 42 drums of calcium carbide through intelligence gathering. The contrabands were in a truck and concealed with cassava tubers and flakes. They thought with the concealment, they can evade the eagle eye of our officers.”
“The explosives were intercepted at Sango – Ota axis and then, we know the items are coming from Benin Republic through the unapproved routes. Calcium carbide is on the list of contrabands because it is dangerous to the nation if it get to the hands of bad elements.”
Yahaya disclosed that the unit has setup investigation to know where the explosives are headed but sure it was meant for a dangerous adventure.
“The calcium cabide weight 106KG in 42 drums with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N105million. I can assure you that the smugglers have no good intention because if they did, they wouldn’t have concealed and smuggled it through the border.”
“Everyone should be worried about smuggling because it begets unemployment, drug addiction, criminality, proliferating of light and small arms, substandard goods, and so on. You can imagine what would have happened if 42 drums of Carbide (explosives) had entered wrong hands,” he said.
Speaking further, the CAC said the unit also intercepted 1,488 kegs (equivalent of 33,000 litres) of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) set to be smuggled out of the country to neighboring Benin Republic.
According to him, other seizures range from bags of rice, Indian hemp, textiles material, cartons of tramadol, second hand clothing, among others.