The Nigeria Customs Service, Apapa Area Command said it collected N404 billion as revenue in 2018, 95 percent of its 2018 revenue target of N426.1 billion.
The amount is an increase of N53 billion against the N350.9 billion the command collected in 2017.
The Command’s Area Controller, Bashir Abubakar, made the disclosure at a media briefing in Lagos on Thursday.
He attributed the success recorded in the review year to the strategies the command adopted, selflessness of the officers and men, as well as the support by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali and his management team.
“The strategies included an advanced system and monitoring, collaboration between internal and external units of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other government agencies,” Abubakar said.
The customs boss disclosed that in 2018 the command intercepted seventy-two containers of various general goods such as used spare parts, used tyres and other sundry goods valued at N9.626 billion.
Abubakar said, “In the year under review, the command also seized and condemned 41 x 40ft containers of controlled pharmaceutical drugs, including tramadol, in excess of the allowable milligrammes with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N8.81 billion.
“Furthermore, the command also intercepted and seized an export-bound used helicopter with registration number 5BN valued at N210.6 million, in addition to another port-bound Aircraft `Cessna 182A’ in CKD with serial no. 3400, valued at N486.9 million.
“These items were seized in accordance with the provisions of the extant laws and guidelines.
“All these items were seized owning to various infractions such as false declaration, concealment and complete disregard of import and export guidelines.”
He said that the command recorded a high level of compliance on export declarations, while 2,500 containers were blocked for non-compliance.
Abubakar said that the command recorded 1, 206,649.67 tonnes of exported goods in 2018 valued $239,467,649.67 million, the equivalent of N73.157,4451, 463.77 billion.