By Bon Peters
Despite some daunting challenges, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Area 1 Command, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has improved its revenue for the first seven months of 2023 by N57.4 billion.
The Customs Area 1 Controller, Mr CD Wada, said this was higher than the N51.9 billion the agency raked in in the same period of last year by 10.6 per cent.
In a chat with journalists in Port Harcourt on Monday, he noted that apart from April, when the maritime sector experienced a global shipping downtime, which affected the revenue of the command’s records, every other month had surpassed its corresponding months of the year 2022.
According to him, the significant milestone was achieved in March, where N11.7 billion was achieved compared with N8.3 billion in March 2022.
Mr Wada, however, stressed that such “feat could not have been achieved without painstakingly engaging with our critical stakeholders through several forms of sensitization programs and other forms of training, particularly on issues of Non-conformity with statutory clearance procedures.”
The customs boss in Rivers State emphasized that the feedback the command got could be attributed to some of their successes, noting that the agency insisted that all unpaid assessments must be paid.
Speaking on intervention, in terms of additional value through interventions, the command generated N988.1 million in the period under review, adding that “these interventions were derived from Demand Notices (DN) issued to importers with infractions on their importation.”
In the aspect of anti-smuggling activities, Comptroller Wada also disclosed that the command had put more emphasis on the 100 per cent physical examination policy of the service, and as a result, some containers suspected to have falsely declared had been placed under detention, pending further investigation.
He advised intending smugglers to avoid Area 1 Command, threatening to seize their containers and have them arrested and prosecuted in a court of law.
Speaking further, he stated that within the period under review, the command had embarked on a working tour to Bayelsa and Ahoada out-stations to appraise the customs activities in those areas saying, “the visit to Bayelsa State also afforded us the opportunities to pay courtesy visits to the heads of other government security agencies.
“The purpose of this visit was to seek further collaboration and synergy with them to foster a better working relationship and to achieve national interest in line with the extant guidelines.”
He stated further that, “I am very optimistic that with the command’s strategy of maximizing the collection of customs duties, other levies, and payment of all unpaid assessments, the command will surpass the revenue collected in 2022.”
