The Controller, Port Harcourt Area II Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Onne, Comptroller Abubakar Bashir, has decried the high level of physical examination of containers in Nigeria, describing it as “very tedious” and “usually not very effective”, as most containers are machine-packed at the point of origin.
Bashir said that manual un-stuffing of containers for physical examination is fraught with myriads of challenges, blaming the situation on the non-availability of scanners at the port.
He said despite these challenges, the command was able to generate N44.7billion as import duty and N19.6 million from exports proceeds in the first half of the year.
According to him, the import revenue surpassed the amount collected within the corresponding period of 2016 by N177.8 million.
Bashir described the Onne command as the flagship of the Nigeria Customs Service in the South-South and South-East zones of the country.
On anti-smuggling activities, he said a total of 20 seizures; comprising 18 units of 20-feet containers and two units of 40-feet containers with duty paid value of N422.8 million were made.
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