By Anthony Nwachukwu
The Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it collected an outstanding N201,853,406,964.61 for July 2024, fresh from its recent unprecedented half-year revenue of N1,227,431,323,016.24 for the period January to July 2024.
Compt. Babatunde Olomu, who disclosed this Wednesday, said the July collection was the agency’s highest ever monthly record, and the 2024 half-year revenue higher than the total for the entire 2023, even as he stated the command’s commitment to surpassing the existing records.
According to him, his implementation of the Comptroller-General of Customs’ thrust of time release study to facilitate trade without delay which yielded the outstanding revenue results.
Olomu further expressed confidence in the command’s ability to do better: “I am optimistic about the possibility of beating this record as we look forward to surpassing it in months to come,” the Command Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abubakar Usman, quoted Olomu to say.
“For the first seven months of 2024, the Apapa Area Command generated a total of N1,227,431,323,016.24. What has been generated so far is above the total collected revenue by the command in 2023, which was N1,172,414,793,960.32.
“In clear terms, our 2024 seven months’ collection is above last year’s 12 months’ total collection. Worthy of note is the interventions from the Tariff and Trade Department, which has contributed immensely to the successes achieved thus far.
“Our compliance desk, dispute resolution team, valuation, PCA, CIU and other units aimed at promoting seamless trade have been reinvigorated with daily, weekly and monthly evaluations by my office to oversee the progress we are making.
“We are committed to doing more in line with the directives and motivating examples of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi.
“Apapa Command handles the highest volume of trade for the NCS, collects the highest revenue, and therefore is saddled with a higher degree of expectation from the management of the service and the government.”
Olomu had met with port stakeholders ahead of the commencement of the nationwide protests to assure them of customs’ availability for work during the period, a move that has further strengthened port users’ confidence.
He also advised Apapa port users to embrace only legitimate trade, restating that the command is more alive to its responsibilities to detect all forms of concealment and plug avenues of revenue leakage to the barest minimum.
