Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Tincan Island Customs Command has generated about N346 billion in revenue in 2019.
The Customs Area Comptroller, Comptroller Mba Musa, said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos on Tuesday.
The statement issued by the command’s Public Relations Officer, SC Uche Ejesieme, said that the command was however limited by challenges that hindered its operations in terms of revenue and others.
He explained that part of the challenges experienced had to do with poor access road infrastructure, lack of government warehouse facilities and non-availability of operational equipment by the terminal operators, among others.
Further, he added that not minding the challenges, the command also surpassed its revenue target for 2019 which was N342 billion.
“Tincan Island Port (TCIP) is one of the key ports in the country.
“TCIP custom command is charged and entrusted with the responsibility of revenue generation and accounting for same, suppression of smuggling, promotion/facilitation of trade and enforcement of the physical monetary policies of the Federal Government.
Musa said that this performance came on the heels of implementation on series of transformational agenda and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) developed to facilitate trade without compromising the extant provisions.
The Comptroller pointed out that the command was able to create templates and blueprints that guided its actions in line with the mission and vision of the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali, Rtd. and his management.
He noted that as regards anti-smuggling, the command during the year under review, strengthened its anti-smuggling operations for optimal performance, consequently, the command effected a total seizure of 16×40ft, 37×20ft (53containers) and three non-containerised cargo.
He listed the seizures to include rice, used tyres, pharmaceutical, vegetable oil, military accoutrements with a total Duty Paid Value of N5.9 billion.
He added that when compared with 2018 seizures, it indicated a recorded improvement from the seizures of 14×40ft, 2×20ft (16 containers) and five non-containised others.
He said that the non-containised ranged from bales of second hand clothing, furniture, children toys, used bags and shoes, expired medicament, used tyres, used fridges, with a total DPV of N2.9 billion from year 2018.
The Comptroller said that for export, the command embarked on sensitisation of stakeholders and would be exporters on the need to take advantage of the potential inherent in export and this yielded an increase in export in 2019.
He pointed that the command exported items with a total tonnage of 269,819.5 tons with a total Free On Board (FOB) value of N130 billion in 2019 as against 254,762.77 tons with a total FOB value of N145 billion exported in 2018.
He said that the command had articulated various trade facilitation initiatives in their SOP which included the use of badges for movement of cargoes.
He added that as part of measures to increase efficiency and capacity of operations in the service, the command developed training curriculum in data analysis, NICIS 11 software, skill gap and profiling training and others.
The Comptroller also commended all stakeholders that ensured that they complied with the regulations thereby making their work easy.
He urged those that did not comply to be patriotic in their dealings
