The Katsina Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it generated over N104.7 million from export and import duties at the recently reopened Jibia Border.
The command also disclosed that N38.5 million was realized from seized items between the 1st of May 2022 to date, which is far below the command’s previous anti-smuggling records.
However, the command attributed the decline in the number of seizures to the reopening of the Jibia border, paving way for legitimate conduct of import and export transactions.
Other factors said to be responsible for the recorded success include the re-strategizing of the command’s operation procedure and cooperation, collaboration and synergy with security, government agencies at the border and other stakeholders.
Among the items seized are 715 bags of 50kg rice worth over N18.7 million, 7 vehicles and 8 motorcycles worth about N8 million, cartons of foreign spaghetti worth N2.4 million, cartons of foreign milk worth N1.2 million, cola nuts worth N1.1 million among other several items.
The Katsina Command Comptroller, Dalha Wada-Chedi, disclosed this on Thursday at the command’s headquarters. He, however, noted that the achievement was from the period the Jibia border was reopened to date.
According to him, since the reopening of the Jibia border the Command has been discharging all of its statutory obligations which include the control of imports and export and has been adhering to Customs procedures in the collection of revenue and other regulations.
To this end, Wada said: “the total sum of N104.7 million (104,735,574.00) was collected and paid into the Federal Account within the period under review.”
He also gave the volume and sum of export through Jibia Border within the period as, 4,000 metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) worth N998,205,392.04 and 1,000 metric tonnes of cement worth N32,292,830.00 respectively.
Wada also gave the fees paid to the Nigeria Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) for two exported items, LPG and Cement as N5,027,592.44 and N183,942.77 respectively, summing up to N5,211,535.21
Meanwhile, the Katsina Command Comptroller has sent a note of warning to unrepentant smugglers that officers and men of the Command are fully ready in their quest to suppress smuggling and enhance revenue collection.