The Seme Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service said it generated the sum of N2.89 billion in the first nine months of the year.
Outgoing Controller of the command, Comptroller Dera Nnadi disclosed this on Monday while handing over the reigns of office to the new Area Controller, Timi Bomodi.
“The revenue target for the command for the year 2023 is N1.97 billion but as at Friday the 15th of September 2023, the Command has collected N2.89 billion,” he said.
Nnadi said the revenue feat was achieved due to the painstaking efforts made by the leadership of the command in partnership with stakeholders.
In the area of anti-smuggling operations, he said the command intercepted fake six million US dollars, which is equivalent to N2.7 billion, rice, petrol, general merchandise goods, 594 parcels of Cannabis Sativa, Tramadol and other narcotics with a combined duty paid value of N1.83 billion.
He said the command also facilitated 146,400.93 metric tonnes of exports worth N16.53 billion during the period under review.
“It is gratifying to mention notable impacts made by the Command in our key performance indicators including revenue collection, anti-smuggling operations, and trade facilitation,” he said.
The new Controller of the command, Comptroller Timi Bomodi assured that he would operate an inclusive administration where the views of sister agencies and other stakeholders will be integrated in making policies through regular interactions.
He assured that he would engage border community residents to ensure that the needs and expectations of the citizenry are met while facilitating trade.
He emphasised that he would operate an open door policy where freight forwarders would be allowed to bring in new ideas to solve trade issues and fine-tune trade policies.