Despite the current economic downturn that has eaten deep into the bottom-lines of many businesses vis-à-vis the low volume of import and export businesses coming and going out of the nation’s seaport, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Tin-Can Island Port said it has generated the sum of N207,838,450,974.00 between January and October this year. This is as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has also confirmed that the reported eight bags (25 pieces per bag) of unidentified substance intercepted recently in one by 20 feet container with the number CMAU 045195/0, was cocaine, weighing 214.732 kilogram, and this represents the highest in volume of cocaine, intercepted in any port or border station in recent times. This particular seizure is no doubt a remarkable one considering the articulated intelligence coordination mechanism adopted and used by the command to achieve desired results, says Bashar, Yusuf, Customs Area Controller of TCIP command in a statement that was sent to BusinessDay.
Yusuf, who noted that all hands are on deck to ensure that Tin- Can Port continues to blaze the trail given the recent commendation from the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) for being at the forefront of due diligence and professionalism, added that the revenue generated by Command in the past ten months, represents positive trend given the prevailing economic situation in the country.
“A major constraint which we will continue to address is the issue of false declaration, deliberate misapplication of harmonised system code on items and other infractions by importers and their agents, who intentionally want to short-change government of its revenue. However, with the measures put in place, it will be practically impossible for anybody to manipulate or circumvent the process without being caught,” he assured.
“On the measures put in place to enhance the capacity of the Command to be able to deal with some of the vices, the Controller pointed out that his command is determined to deliver on its mandate, and he promised to ensure that the various operations in the value chain are compelled to key into the change ideology of the Federal Government.”
Continuing, he stated that the command will continue to strategise through stakeholders engagement, training and retraining of its personnel as well as collaborating with the critical agencies in line with the vision and mission of the Hameed Ali led Customs administration
