The Tin Can Island Port (TCIP) Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) generated a total of N179.3 billion (52.28 per cent of its annual revenue target) between January 1 and July 10, 2019, Compt. Abdullahi Musa said.
The figure exceeded the N172.51 billion generated in the corresponding period of 2018 with N6.8 billion, 761,270,093.91) from the record of the previous year, according to a statement by the Command Public Relations Officer, Mr. Uche Ejesieme.
The command also recorded a total of 150,930.7 metric tonnes of export with FOB value of N68.9 billion, exceeding its 118,452.87 metric tonnes at N63.1 billion for the corresponding period of last year with 32,477.83 metric tonnes, with approximate FOB value of N5.8 billion.
According to Musa, these improvements resulted from the full automation of the command’s export procedures aimed at achieving seamless transactions, just as stakeholders, through continues sensitisation, became increasingly aware of the available opportunities in export business.
The other enablers included the development of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for operational efficiency, as the command looks beyond revenue collection/generation to creating the enabling environment for legitimate business, including speedy clearance of cargo from the ports to reduce the cost of doing business.
He further disclosed that through a deliberate and pre-emptive anti-smuggling drive, the command seized 5x40ft and 4x20ft containers of various contraband goods, including used tyres and rims, bags of rice, cartons of tramadol and other pharmaceuticals, with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N1.2 billion during the period under review.
Meanwhile, to improve trade facilitation, the command said it created various platforms, including regular stakeholder engagement and feedback, dispute resolution committee, time release studies, help desk, one-stop-shop, and fast-track facilities, for expeditious resolution of disputes and issues related thereto.
Consequently, “this approach has led to the speedy resolution of disputes arising from valuation, classification and PAAR, among others.
“The command is also working out modalities for the use of barges in transferring cargo to off-dock terminals to reduce congestion and speed up cargo delivery, considering that cargo throughput is increasing, and road infrastructure overstretched.”
Musa assured of continued efforts to remove all bureaucratic bottlenecks and impediments in the trade value chain, as a vanguard of the Presidential Directive on Ease of Doing Business, and the World Customs Organisation’s trade facilitation agenda.
