The PTML Command of Nigeria Customs Service said it collected N87.8 billion as revenue from January to June 2020.
A statement by the command’s spokesman, Muhammed Yakubu, said the amount, which is 12 percent higher than N75.7 billion collected within the same period of 2019, is the highest half year collection collected by the command since inception.
Yakubu attributed the increase in revenue to increase in cargo throughput and due diligence of the command’s operatives under the supervision of the Area Controller, Comptroller Festus Okun.
According to him, the Controller has put in place increased supervision machinery ensuring that officers were fully on ground before and during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic while observing all laid down protocols as advised by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and relevant health institutions.
Part of the measures put in place by the Controller he said include raising demand notice for appropriate duty payment wherever there is an infraction.
“The CAC also reiterated his advice to car importers to avoid using neighbouring countries and smuggling vehicles through the land borders as the long arms of the law will always catch up with them.
“Okun reassured that with flawless compliance in the areas of sincere declarations and prompt duty payments, cargoes can be exited from his command within six hours .
“Trade facilitation and ease of doing business without compromising national security and government revenue have also been areas of priority,” he said.
A breakdown of the collection shows the command in January collected N16.5 billion, which was 11 percent above N14.8 billion generated within the corresponding period of last year.
N13.3 billion was collected in February, which is 33 percent above N10 billion collected in the same month of 2019. For March 2020, N15.6 billion was collected, April N11 billion while N13.6 billion and N17.5 billion was generated for the months of May and June respectively.