According to the Nigeria Customs Service‘s Area 2 Command in Onne, Rivers State, it brought in over N301 billion in revenue in 2023.
This was revealed on Tuesday during the command’s end-of-year service in the state’s Onne, Eleme Local Government Area, by Area Comptroller Baba Imam.
According to Imam, the revenue collection and generation, smuggling suppression, and fiscal policy implementation are the primary responsibilities of the NCS.
He acknowledged a few successes and expressed satisfaction that the command had exceeded its annual goal in 2022.
Imam said, “In the area of revenue, the command has recorded about N301 billion as of this moment.
“The command did not only meet up with its revenue target or beat last year’s revenue but has remarkably increased over N40 billion to N50 billion in addition to what was realised last month.”
Continuing, he said, “I would like to state here that, in July, the command had a total revenue of N38 billion, which is an unprecedented record in the history of this command, just for a month.”
He added that before now, the command had to record only about N27 billion as the highest revenue that was generated within a month.
Imam stated, “Our revenue target for the year (2023) is about N336 billion and as I speak, we have been able to get about 90 per cent of our revenue target and I want to assure you people all that we are resolute and committed to ensuring that we meet up with our revenue target before the end of the year.”
Regarding smuggling, the Area Comptroller revealed that during the period under examination, the command has seized roughly 38–39 containers in order to ensure compliance with import and export standards and to act as a deterrent to others.
Secondhand clothing, worn tires, hard drugs hidden, other narcotics, weapons and ammunition, including handguns, were among the contraband that violated import and export regulations and were turned over to the appropriate authorities.
He also mentioned the command’s amicable and peaceful cooperation with stakeholders and sister agencies, claiming that this has improved the command’s earnings and led to seamless operations.
He encouraged the command’s officers to continue being resolute in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities as stipulated by law.
He further admonished, “As young officers in this service, the service is for you. You are the crucial management of this service and therefore, you need to be apt, proactive, diligent and committed.
“You need to, with sincerity of purpose, be ready to discharge any assignment assigned to you at any given time, and to be committed to ensuring that you will bring the needed result for you to be recognised.”
Highlight of the event was the presentation of awards, and certificates of excellence and recognition to officers and stakeholders of the command.