From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Oyo/Osun command of the Nigeria Customs Service has collected N8, 895, 206, 245 as revenue for the first half of 2017.
The Customs Area Controller, Comptroller of the command, Udo-Aka Emmanuel, who made this known while giving a report on the activities of the Command between January and June this year, also said 57 seizures of various items, ranging from textile materials, rice, footwear, vehicles and bales of secondhand cloths etc, with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N3, 520, 550 was also recorded within the same period.
According to him, the revenue generated and collected from imports and export during the period under review stood at N7, 494, 449, 965.
Said he: “The above figure is in contrast to the total sum generated in the preceding year for the same period. It is on record that for the same period, the command generated and collected N7, 245,680,587. Comparatively, there is an increase of NI, 546, 105, 103.”
Emmanuel remarked that some of the smugglers had become so deadly and desperate to the extent of resorting to harassing and intimidating officers.
A breakdown of the seizures made include: 33 vehicles, 500 cartons of imported frozen fish, 250 cartons of imported frozen chicken and 55 jerry cans of 25 litres of foreign vegetable oil.
Others are 477 pieces of retreaded Pnuematic Tyres and 16 bales of foreign textiles.
