By Chinonye Anyatonwu
The Ports and Terminal Multiservices Limited (PTML) Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has collected a total of N117,568,218,513.00 into the federation account as half year revenue from January to June 2022.
In a press release made available by the Command’s PRO, SC Yakubu Muhammad, the figure is 12.3% above the N104,649,202,251.00 collected at the end of 2021 first half.
According to the statement,”This is a combined result of volume of trade through the port, trade facilitation strategies and prevention of revenue leakages emplaced by the Customs Area Controller (CAC), of the command, Comptroller Festus Oyedele Okun”.
“Comparatively, the command maintained a sustained trend of increase in monthly collections in 2022 above 2021, except in the month of April 2022 when we collected N16,357,509,497 which came 8% lower than N17,938,794,417,” the release stated.
The breakdown of the cumulative collection in January, February March, May and June this year manifested increases ranging from 3% to 28%.
In January this year, the command collected N15,713,776,798, which is 3.3% higher than N15,205,823,545 collected in January 2021. For February of both years, N14,075,386,963 was collected in 2022 and N11,706,947,150 was collected in 2021 showing a 20% increase above previous year’s figure.
In March 2022, the command collected N21,840,828,908 which translates into 9.5% increase above the N19,937,869,175 collected in the third month of last year.
Comparative figures of May 2022 with that of 2021 shows the highest monthly increase of 28f. This year N22,550,759,092 was collected above N17,606,073,741 collected same month of last year.
For the month of June 2022, N27,029,957,255 was collected showing 21.5% increase above N22,253,694,223 that was collected in June 2021.
Comptroller Okun advised importers and agents operating in PTML to maximize the advantages in the command like the four hour clearance time for honest and accurate port users
He described the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation system as a policy designed to achieve national economic and security interests while calling for more stakeholders support to make it work more efficiently.
The CAC also urged them to keep abreast with ICT innovations aimed at simplifying customs operations like the Non Intrusive Inspection (NII) which is aimed at achieving efficient and time saving cargo clearance without human interaction.
Comptroller Okun admonished officers and men of the area to keep up the work ethics of shunning corruption, avoiding any form of compromise and continually ensuring maximum collection of duties due to government without compromising national security.
According to him, the practice of issuing demand notices (DN) to recover identified shortfalls in duty payments should not be viewed as punitive but in line with honesty and service, which are guiding principles of the service
He however reminded them of the need to adhere to the provisions of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) CAP 45 LFN and other books of instructions including directives from the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, Rtd.
