Customs rakes in N5.5bn daily, says Hameed Ali

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said on Thursday in Lagos that its revenue generation has increased to the region of N5.5 billion daily.
The Comptroller-General (CGC), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), made this known during a working visit to the headquarters of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) in Lagos.
The CGC, who was represented at the event by the Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) and Customs Coordinator in-charge of Zone A, Mr Kaycee Ekekezie, said that the feat was made possible as a result of the automation of customs operations at the ports.
According to the customs boss, the increase in revenue generation has helped in the prompt payment of salaries of workers of the NCS and made the organisation a critical contributor to the nation’s treasury in terms of revenue generation.
“The automation of the customs system at ports and borders has made it easy for the service to block revenue leakages and meet targets.
“The system has made transaction in ports user friendly while eliminating human contact and its attendant frictions in the cargo transaction business,’’ Ali said.
The customs helmsman, who charged the freight forwarders on trade compliance, said that sincere declaration and truthful documentation would aid both the customs and the forwarders to achieve a common goal of trade facilitation devoid of cargo delays.
The NAGAFF Founder, Dr Boniface Aniebona, who hosted the occasion in his remarks at the event, asked port users to help the NCS by adhering to trade compliance.
He said that such drive would foster good relationship with the customs personnel.
Aniebona aid that as an association they would begin the sanitation from within, by exposing and sanctioning erring members in order to maintain the good relationship with the customs.