Apapa Customs Makes N1.2 Trillion In Seven Months, Commits To Improved  Performance

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

With a total revenue collection of over N 1.2 trillion within the first half of 2024, the Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, said it has surpassed its total revenue generation for the preceding year 2023.

The Command also recorded the single highest revenue in one month with over N201 billion collected in July this year.

The Area Comptroller, Babatunde Olomu, who disclosed this on Wednesday August 7, 2024 attributed the unprecedented feat to the implementation of the Comptroller General of Customs thrust of time release study to facilitate trade without delay.

He assured that the  Command is poised to better the record in the  months ahead .

In a statement issued  by the spokesperson for the Apapa NCS Command, Abubakar Usman CSC, the Comptroller expressed  optimism on the possibilities of the  command soaring higher.

“lam optimistic about the possibility of beating this record as we look forward to surpassing it in months to come.

“For the first seven months of 2024, that is from January to July this year, the Apapa Area Command generated a total  N1,227,431,323,016.24.

“What has been generated so far for seven months is above the total collected revenue by the Command in 2023,which was N1,172,414,793,960.32.

“In clear terms ,our 2024 seven months collection is above last year’s twelve months total collection. Worthy of note is the interventions from the Tariff and Trade Department, which has contributed  immensely to the successes achieved thus far.

“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. evaluation by my office 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 .

“Apapa Command handles the highest volume of trade for the NCS ,collects the highest revenue and therefore is saddled with a higher degree of expectations from the management of the service and Government” Olomu stated .

The implementation of  the thrust of time release study, the Comptroller insisted yielded the outstanding results, which reflects in the Command’s revenue collection.

He appealed to stakeholders to always embrace only legitimate trade, while also reiterating the command’s commitment to its statutory responsibilities to detecting all forms of concealment and plugging of revenue leakages.