Q1: Tin-Can Customs collects N50bn revenue
…Justifies port raids
The Tin-Can Island Port Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has declared that it recorded N50 billion as revenue generated between January and March, this year.
This is against N52 billion collected in the corresponding period of 2012.
The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Tajudeen Olanrewaju, gave the figures while reviewing the performance of the command for the first quarter of 2013.
According to him, the shortfall of about N2 billion is due to various reforms in the financial sector and the decline in the volume of cargoes.
“Some of the importers go on bank loan to fund their business transaction; if they can’t get the loan they will not be able to place an order for import as much as they probably would have done ordinarily because of the reforms in the financial sector,” he said.
On suppression of smuggling, Olanrewaju said that the command, in the period under review, impounded 90 containers of assorted contraband items.
“Our efforts to reduce smuggling to its barest minimum led to the seizure of 61×40 foot containers and 32×20 foot containers of offending imports, ranging from parboiled rice, electrical cables, mosquito coils, falsely and under declared vehicles,” Olanrewaju stated.
Meanwhile, the Customs boss has maintained that those who do not have anything to do at the port should not be seen around the facility, noting that Tin-Can Island Port is a trade hub internationally and one of the busiest ports in the world, which calls for proper implementation of procedures.
“The Nigerian Customs is here to implement the fiscal policies of government. The crowd must be controlled. It will be big news internationally if somebody drops a bomb at Tin-Can Port just because we cannot control crowd,” Olanrewaju said.
He added: “We need to enforce procedures. Procedures make things easy either for everybody. Enforcing procedure has helped us to check revenue leakage, to sustain anti smuggling operation and to control crowd. In enforcing all of these, we can offend some people; it is not intentional, but it is inevitable.”
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.