The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) is expected to spend the total sum of N238.2bn in 2020 as recently approved by the House of Representatives.
Reports for the approval was presented by the Chairman of the House Committee on Customs, Abdullahi Garba.
The breakdown of the budget shows that the sum of N98.6 billion personnel cost, N16 billion for overhead cost, and N123.6 billion for capital projects.
Meanwhile, the Apapa Command, generated N413.7 billion as revenue from Jan. 1 to Dec. 19, the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Mohammed Abba-Kura has said.
Briefing journalists on its activities at the weekend, Abba-Kura said that the command had surpassed its revenue target of N372 billion for the year, which translated to 111 per cent performance.
“In achieving this feat, the complementary roles of units like the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) and Valuation Unit amongst others are specially acknowledged,” he said.
According to him, the command generated N404 billion in 2018 N413.7 billion in 2019.
He said that command generated the highest revenue figure of N42.7 billion at the peak of the border closure in October.
Abba-Kura said that revenue generated in October was a positive evidence of the impact the border closure had on smuggling through the land borders and increased legitimate imports through the seaport.
The comptroller said that the command, during the period under review, seized a total of 112 containers of various items constituting contraband, fake and substandard goods.
“Most notable among these items are pharmaceutical products which include tramadol that were imported without necessary approval from regulatory agencies like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
“Other items include tomato paste, vegetable oil, ladies and girls fashion foot wears, expired rice, armored glasses without End User Certificate (EUC) and drilling pipes labeled in foreign language etc.
“It is pertinent to emphasize here that virtually all the seized items are in gross violation of our extant laws and import guidelines. The Duty Paid Value (DPV) for these seizures stood at N12.8 billion,” he said.
Abba-Kura said that in the area of export, the command recorded a total of 262,095.09 metric tonnes of exported goods with Free on Board value of $132.8 million (N40.6 billion).
He said that most of the exported items were agricultural and mineral products and appealed to exporters using Apapa port to always ensure that international standards are met to avoid the recurrent incidence of returned consignments.
“The results we are seeing today is the product of the training, in addition to other mechanisms like 24 hours dispute resolution, maintaining an open and accessible door policy to address complaints. Others are constant engagement with the stakeholders as well as support by the management of the NCS and other sister agencies operating within the port,” he said.
