By Anthony Nwachukwu
Excited at the record collection by the Apapa Customs Area Command, Compt. Yusuf Malanta has assured of higher monthly revenue profile when the already procured modern scanner is eventually deployed, alongside artificial intelligence, to facilitate trade and block more leakages.
Malanta spoke on the heels of the command’s latest total collection of approximately N89.1 billion for November 2021 – N3.1 billion above its N86 billion for October and a new monthly revenue record across all commands of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
He assured that as the command facilitates trade, collects revenue and promotes ease of doing business, its attention will also be on issues of national security, adding that “this will continually be evident in our mode of cargo examination and intelligence sharing with sister-agencies.
“By the time we commence the use of scanners and other tools of artificial intelligence, trade facilitation will be at a higher speed and as the flagship command, this will reflect very positively on our revenue.”
Malanta described the November revenue feat as the beginning of improved outputs for the command, assuring of a sustained rise in its revenue profile.
He attributed the sustained progress in the command’s revenue profile to the deployment of artificial intelligence tools and improved logistics, better inter-agency synergy, enhanced trade facilitation, speedy dispute resolution and prevention of revenue loss.
“This N89,097,888,609 collection is an improvement but we are aiming higher than this,” a statement from the Command Public Relations Officer, Abubakar Usman, quoted Malanta to say.
“Our first step was to improve on our stakeholders’ compliance level, which in my assessment is commendable. Second is to strengthen the inter-agency synergy between customs in Apapa and other agencies of government; this is also a huge success.
“We are gradually making Apapa Port a no-go area for perpetrators of illegalities because all recent attempts at smuggling prohibited items through the port were uncovered.”
