Lagos, Nov. 16, 2023: The Murtala Muhammed Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has generated N74.29 billion through customs duty and other charges from January to October 2023.
The Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Mohammed Yusuf, said this at a news conference on Wednesday in Lagos.
Yusuf said the figure represented a growth of N14.23 billion or 23.69 per cent when compared with N60.06 billion achieved in the comparative period of 2022.
He added that the command had met 76.34 per cent of its annual target.
“This was made possible as a result of resilience of officers in ensuring that agents were made to do proper declarations and adhere strictly to import/export guidelines in tandem with extant laws,” he said.
On anti-smuggling activities, he said the command was not resting on their oars in enforcing government fiscal policies and other trade guidelines.
“The command has intercepted unregistered pharmaceutical products suspected to be Tramadol tablets of 225mg coming from India and Pakistan.
“The shipment was intercepted on the suspicion of exceeding the approved threshold by the Federal Government.
“The cumulative Duty Paid Value of the aforementioned items stood at N3.57bn and will be handed over to the required authority,” he said.
In the area of stakeholder’s engagement, he said the command had maintained an open-door policy and resolved a lot of issues of common interest with concerned stakeholders.
“Let me also at this juncture thank our critical stakeholders, sister agencies and the media for their collaborative efforts and synergy while carrying out our statutory mandate in the state.
“I want to thank the Controller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, for providing an enabling environment and also urge officers of the command to remain focused and steadfast in discharging their assigned responsibilities,” he said.