From: Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Oyo/Osun Area Command has generated over N16 billion revenue between January and November 2017, which represents an increase of 19.48 per cent over N13 billion recorded over the same period in 2016.
Area Controller of Customs for the two states, Mr. David Chikan, made the disclosure, on Tuesday, when he briefed journalists on the activities of the command for 2017.
According to him, “The command has been doing very well in the area of revenue collection, which comes purely from excise factories and few imports.
“The command generated a sum total of N16,182, 206,265.7kobo as against the N13,543,802,589.3kobo generated within the same period in 2016. This shows an increase of 19.48 per cent in the revenue collection over last year.”
Chikan stated further that from January to November, this year, the anti-smuggling and enforcement efforts of the command recorded 111 seizures with a duty paid value (DPV) of N210.2million, adding that “four suspects were arrested and subsequently granted conditional bail and will soon be charged to court.”
Meanwhile, Chikan disclosed that a total of 2,370 bags of 50 kilogrammes of smuggled foreign rice were impounded by the command between November and December, this year, adding that 1,000 pieces of used tyres, as well as 135 bales of used clothes were also confiscated within the past six weeks. The seized items were smuggled into the country in six trucks, three buses, and two cars.
The DPV of the seized vehicles, according to him, was N11,066,983.48 kobo, while the DPV of goods was put at N53,116,021.29 kobo.
“Most of these goods were conveyed in trucks and other types of vehicles meant for doing legitimate businesses and conveyance of commuters, but now being used to perpetuate these evil acts.
“However, due to the relentless efforts and formidable intelligence gathering as well as collaboration with other units, such as headquarters compliance team, federal operations unit, and the Customs Intelligence Unit, we were able to make these arrests.”
Chikan, who commended the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), for providing personnel of NCS with enabling tools and environment to perform their duties effectively, stated: “The Nigeria Customs Service has zero tolerance for smuggling because of its dire consequences on the nation’s economy and security, hence, we will do everything within our capability to fight it to a standstill.”