Customs rakes in N9.6bn at Seme Border

The Seme Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) generated N9.6 billion between January and December 2014, a 9.12 per cent increase over the 8.4 billion the command collected in 2013.

The command said the increase was due to  improvement to earnings from the Vehicle Import Transit regime.

“In 2014, the Vehicle Import Transit regime was introduced by the Comptroller-General of the NCS and this boosted the revenue of the command,” the command’s spokesperson, Ernest Olottah, said in a statement on Monday.

“We are sure that we will surpass our 13billion target for this year because we have been brainstorming to identify and block all perceived sources of revenue leakages.”

He added that the command made 686 seizures with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N294.3m during the period, noting that the figure was lower than the 1,102 seizures made in 2013.

“The items seized included vehicles, rice, frozen poultry products, petroleum products and shoes, amongst other items.

“It is rewarding to know that out anti-smuggling sensitisation exercise at the grassroots is paying off, which is why we made less seizures than in the corresponding year,” the statement noted.

It added that 18 suspects were arrested and arraigned within the period under review and were at various stages of investigation and prosecution.

(NAN)