By Uzor Odigbo
The Edo/Delta Command of Nigeria Customs Service has collected a total of N30,638,073,795.75 as revenue from January to August 2023 into government coffers and processed crude oil export amounting to 156,836,264 barrels and 268,319.522 metric tonnes of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) for the first eight months of the year.
This was disclosed on Tuesday in Warri by Comptroller Babatunde Olomu at a press briefing on the activities of his command, where he also said N138,587,468 was recovered through issuance of demand notices
Dr Olomu who described the revenue collection feat as outstanding, said it was achieved in the face of various challenges including low draft and near collapse of the Warri channel, low
trade influx, swings in transaction rate and the unstable economic environment.
He also attributed the successes recorded to leakage prevention, zero compromise for duty evasion and due diligence even in the face of low volume of trade.
On anti smuggling, Olomu said the command is currently in custody of seizures with duty paid value in excess of N331,181,600. Some of the seizures are bales of used clothes, rice, vegetable oil, used fridges, red wines, tomato paste and sacks of cannabis.
On excise duty collection, Dr. Olomu also disclosed a collection of N4,507,700,028 from factories engaged in production of excisable products manufactured by Guinness Nigeria PLC, Coca-Cola and 7up Bottling
Company and others
Olomu said, “The Command has never relented in its strive to make sure it hits and surpasses its target against all odds; low draft and near collapse of the Warri channel, low trade influx, swings in transaction rate and the unstable economic environment.
“The Command had been able to make outstanding revenue input into the
Federation Account within the period under review that is January to August
2023.
“This was made possible through leakage prevention, zero compromise for duty evasion and due diligence in this period of low volume of trade influx into the port as well as the cooperation of our stakeholders
“We are determined to do more and possibly surpass our revenue target for the year 2023, by God’s grace.
Also the command was able to raise 24 demand notices (DN) as compared to 8 demand notices for the corresponding period of 2022.
“The demand notice of
2023 is worth N138,587,468.
The above feat was realised because of our doggedness and determination to
make a change against all odds as earlier enumerated and the enormous support of our stakeholders, in spite of not having regular vessels berthing in Warri port” he said
Olomu expressed optimism in revenue increase from the command adding that a government warehouse facility for storage of seizures has been provided in Aduwawa, Benin City outstation of the command.
This is where seizures brought in by
Federal Operation Unit and Joint Border Patrol team are being handed over to
officers and men of Edo/Delta Command for proper documentation and safe keeping.
On customs community relations, Comptroller Olomu said his command enjoys robust relationship with sister government agencies. He visited one of the commands biggest terminal offshore called Escravos terminal managed by Chevron and others.
These visits, according to him were geared towards a robust collaboration between
the Service and it’s stakeholders to aid in a seamless process of carrying out customs statutory functions
