Apapa Customs collects N86bn in October, commends stakeholders increase compliance 

The Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service said it collected a total of N86.022, 748, 549.77billion as revenue for the month of October 2021.

Public Relations Officer of the command, Abubakar Usman, said in a statement that the revenue was generated despite initial glitches that slowed the command’s operations.

He said the tempo of increase in revenue collection is being sustained through volume of trade and strategies emplaced by the Controller of the command, Comptroller Malanta Yusuf by raising stakeholders’ compliance level and inter agency collaborations between Apapa Customs Command and other government agencies.

“A breakdown of the total collection shows federation and non-federation figures. Figures under the federation account are as follows: Import duty at ₦38,436,536,897.00;

Excise duty at ₦199,038,533.00;

CET Levy at ₦5,625,077,502.00; and Fees at ₦401,830,622.00.

“All of these come in at a sub total of N44,662,483,554.00.

“Figures for the Non-federation Account are as follows: Port Levy at ₦2,690,572,938.00;

NAC at ₦165,872,139.00; 1% CISS at ₦4,612,963,465.00; 0.5% ETLS at ₦2,688,286,656.00;

Sugar Levy at ₦598,518,814.00; Wheat Flour Levy at ₦488,959.00; Iron Levy at ₦47,220,994.00; Wheat Grain Levy at ₦7,892,567,890.00; Ness Levy at ₦102,989,524.77. All of these at a sub-total of ₦18,799,481,379.77.

“For Value added tax, the command collected ₦22,560,783,616.00 leading to a grand total of ₦86,022,748,549.77,” he said.

While commending port users and stakeholders for their increasing level of compliance, Comptroller Yusuf urged them to continually avoid unlawful activities such as concealments with intent to smuggle; false declaration and under valuation to evade accurate duty payments.

According to him, any importation that runs contrary to the provisions of sections 46 and 47 of Customs and Excise Management Act CAP C45 LFN 2004 and Customs and Excise Notices No.1491 will not be allowed into the country.

He said the command will not compromise wherever and whenever the need arises to make arrests and seizures for infractions deserving of such actions.

He further charged the command’s compliance team to maintain their zero tolerance for infractions as a way of protecting the national economy.

The CAC described the inter-agency collaborations between Apapa Customs and other government agencies as an operational masterstroke yielding great results.

With reference to recent joint seizures of 32.9kg of cocaine uncovered in a vessel, MV ChaYanee Naree, in Apapa Port in October and 74.119kg of captagon pills hidden in various components of machine parts which was seized in September, Comptroller Yusuf lauded the sustained intelligence sharing between the command and sister agencies like the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria Police, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army and others.

He said only importers and agents who either want to smuggle or evade duty payments will fault the command and its growing synergies with other agencies which is strengthened through collaborations.

He also advised all importers and agents to take advantage of the one stop shop compliance and dispute resolution mechanism aimed at achieving trade facilitation without compromising national revenue and security.