By Dipo Olowookere
Not less than N367.7 billion has been generated as revenue in the first nine months of this year by the Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
When compared with the first nine months of last year, the collected and remitted to the federation account from the unit rose by 17 per cent from N313.5 billion.
According to a statement issued by the customs, a total of N140.3 billion was made in the third quarter of the year; that is from July to September, higher than the N110.3 billion raked in the same period of 2019, indicating a 27 per cent increase.
It was disclosed that the rise in the generated revenue into the coffers of the government was as a result of the “resilience of officers in ensuring that importers and agents are made to do proper declarations, adhere strictly to import/export guidelines in tandem with extant laws.”
The revenue-generating agency of the federal government noted that in the area of anti-smuggling, the command made a total seizure of 187 containers of pharmaceutical products and other general goods in the third quarter of 2020.