The Nigeria Customs Service says it generated N1.2 trillion as revenue between January and July 2024 at the Apapa command.

The customs area controller in Apapa, Babatunde Olomu, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr Olumu said he was committed to surpassing the existing revenue collection records. He said the command collected N201.8 billion for July 2024, its highest monthly collection in the agency’s history.

According to Mr Olumu, the collected revenue for the seven months of 2024 is higher than the total revenue collected in 2023.

He attributed the success to implementing the Time Release Study thrust by the comptroller general of customs, Bashir  Adeniyi, to facilitate trade.

Mr Olomu said that the move had yielded outstanding results, which were reflected in the command’s revenue collection.

“I am optimistic about the possibility of beating this record as we look forward to surpassing it in months to come. From January to July 2024, the Apapa area command generated a total of N1.22 billion above the total revenue collected by the command in 12 months of 2023, which was  N1.17 trillion.

“In clear terms, our 2024 seven months collection is above last year’s 12 months’ total collection,” Mr Olomu said.

He said that the interventions from the Tariff and Trade Department also contributed immensely to the successes achieved by the command.

“Our compliance desk, dispute resolution team, Valuation, PCA, CIU and other units aimed at promoting seamless trade have been reinvigorated with daily, weekly and monthly evaluations to oversee the progress we are making.

“We are committed to doing more in line with the directives and motivating examples of the comptroller-general of customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR,” Mr Olumu said.

He said that Apapa command handled the highest volume of trade for the NCS, collected the highest revenue, and was therefore saddled with a higher degree of expectation from the service management and government.

He advised Apapa port users to embrace legitimate trade, adding that the Apapa command was more alive to its responsibilities to detect all forms of concealment and plug any avenue for revenue leakage to the barest minimum. 

(NAN)