The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it generated ₦1.5 billion into the Federal Government coffers in the first three months of 2018.
The command’s spokesman, Selechang Taupyen, who made this known in a statement in Lagos over the weekend, said the amount represents 78 percent of the monthly revenue target allocated to the command by the Service.
He said the command also made a total of 270 seizures with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of ₦235 million within the period under review adding that surveillance efforts by the command also led to the arrest of over 30, 000 bags of smuggled rice with a DPV of over ₦530 million.
He said the command has succeeded in stemming the impunity and the flagrant abuse of the Federal Government policies by ardent smugglers, while level of compliance has increased at the command.
“A well-known traveller through the corridor will bear witness to the fact that smuggling is being confronted headlong and there is no room for impunity and illegalities at Seme route now.
“The total and aggressive compliance level in the enforcement of relevant government policies is a thing of admiration in the command as seizures of different contrabands are reeled into the warehouse in a perpetual manner.
“The Customs Area Controller, Compt. Mohammed Aliyu, is operating in strict adherence to the reform agenda of the Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali. This is evident as his operational strategies are determinedly within the Service mandate with the nation’s security in mind.
“These exceptional performances within the country are felt in other countries as the command’s collaborative effort within the sub-region wax stronger daily. The synergy has yielded an unprecedented feat in the arrest of many items including over fifty stolen exotic cars at the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire under the Interpol collaboration,” he said.