The Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it now collect N1.7 billion revenue daily. The amount is 70 per cent higher than the command’s daily collection of N1 billion in the first quarter of the year.
Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Charles Edike, while speaking with SHIPS & PORTS DAILY in his office on Tuesday, attributed the increase to measures instituted by the Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi, to address the challenges occasioned by the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) regime and the commitment of officers of the command.
Part of the measures, according to Edike, is the special arrangement of physical examination granted importers and agents whose goods have not been cleared since the introduction of PAAR clearing system in December 2013 up to March 15, 2014.
He said the arrangement has led to an impressive turnout of importers and agents, “except for those who falsely declared and have some form of concealment in their containers.”
He said, “Those who are afraid have something to hide but the ones that have nothing to hide are not afraid. This is the fourth batch of documents I have cleared under this arrangement this morning. The DC special duty is already at the terminal supervising the examination of containers that have arrived and APM terminals have been positioning these containers. The ones that cannot be handled during working days because of their normal are positioned on weekends.”
On complaints from agents as regards variations in import duty rates issued under the PAAR platform, Edike explained that the increase in the duty rate is as a result of the implementation of the government fiscal policy.
“Recently there was a new fiscal policy that raised (duty on) certain items to 35 per cents. These are the ones we are saying government has changed even though the PAAR initially carried it at five percent and that those things were before fiscal policy came out,” he said.
He said only importers who completed their documentation before January 23, 2014 are entitled to the old duty rate.
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