By Bon Peters
The Kebbi Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has generated about N36.2 million in the third quarter of 2024 and seized illicit goods with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over N323 million in the period under review.
“In particular, we assemble all our trading communities on board in a deliberate and conscious effort to forge a common ground. In all the meetings we held, we stressed the need for compliance and avoidance of importing goods that would be injurious to the health of Nigerians and destroy the economy,” the Area Controller for the Command, Comptroller Ernest Iheanacho Ojike, was quoted as saying in a statement issued last Friday.
Mr Ojike said that his command has been working assiduously to up the yearly revenue target with a series of meetings with stakeholders, including educating them on the Customs procedures in relation to import and export aimed at stemming the tide of smuggling and increasing revenue generation.
“In a quest to further improve the revenue drive, the command under the leadership of Comptroller General of Customs, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, has been actively involved in the process of reopening the Tsamiya-Sebgana border, which proposed a one-stop border post.
“A one-stop border cuts off all irrelevancies in documentations and non-tariff procedures preceding trade facilitation,” he added.
Though he regretted that a lot of challenges have affected the command revenue generation which he attributed to low volume of imports through the only official border, Kamba, the command, according to him, was still able to generate N36.2 million within the period under review even as he envisaged that with the efforts his command has put in place, the result would continue to translate to positive outcome.
“But this special team, whirlwind, has since swung into action and has successfully within the short period of their stay here reduced the menace of petroleum product smuggling in the state. They are a team that thrives on intelligence, and the results of their efforts speak for them,” he reiterated.
“Here, we showcase some of the seizures of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) they have made. They are working very hard to ensure that incidences of scarcity of the products are not experienced in the state.
“Our Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) and of course the federal government are very passionate in seeing that our petroleum products are well utilized within our stores.
“We are all well aware of the inconveniences and distress we experience during fuel scarcity and the spiralling effect it has on the costs of other items. Hence, the need to root out the menace,” he insisted.