The Oyo/Osun Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, said it had generated a total revenue of over N20 billion into the coffers of the federal government between January and April this year.
The federal government has apportioned the command an annual revenue target of N62.8billion for the year 2020 .
The Customs Area Controller, CAC, for the Command, Mrs. Uche Ngozi, while speaking with journalists at the headquarters of the Command in Ibadan, said apart from ensuring that government fiscal policy was enforced and local production encouraged, the Command had seized over 35,000 litres of petroleum, and a total of 3,465 bags of rice between March and April, 2020.
She said, “We are proud to inform the public that through these difficult months of dealing with the COVID 19 pandemic, we have worked tirelessly as a service to ensure that our borders are secure and smuggling activities are reduced to the nearest minimum.
“We combed the bushes day and night to ensure that government fiscal policy is enforced.”
She further disclosed that within the same period, the Command made a seizure of 180 bales of second hand clothing from a train operated by the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, with duty paid value of over N13 million .
While stating that no fewer than 63 persons were arrested in connection with the smuggling of the prohibited items into the country, the controller noted that the total duty paid value for all the seizures was N97 million .
The Customs boss said the arrest and interception of the prohibited items came several weeks after the federal government closed Nigerian borders.
While explaining that men of the command carried out the anti-smuggling activities with utmost professionalism, the Area Controller said the cumulative duty paid value from January to April 2020 was over N312 million .
“Within the period under review, we have made 72 seizures and detentions. We have carried out enforcement and anti-smuggling activities with utmost professionalism , caution and intelligence gathering . We urge the public to cooperate with the Nigeria Customs Service in the implementation of government fiscal policies to help improve the economic and social welfare of the nation,” she said.
She also said that the command was able to seal a petrol station carrying out illegal activities.
“With smart intelligence gathering, we were able to identify a petrol filing station carrying out illegal activities within its premises. The petrol station has been sealed and arrested suspects were made to write statement and undertaking to desist from such illicit activities,” she stated.
