The Apapa Command of Nigeria Customs Service has collected an unprecedented revenue totalling N119,049,235,263 in July, 2023.
The collection is the highest monthly revenue ever made in the history of the command or any other Customs command in Nigeria.
The highest monthly revenue ever generated by the command was N95 billon recorded in August, 2022 and January, 2023 respectfully.
The July revenue collection cancelled the shortfall recorded in the first half of the year 2023 which is N502 billion as against the N522 billion collected in 2022.
Total collections till date from January to July, 2023 now amount to N540,431,401,641.
Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs, Mohammed Auwal, who disclosed the July revenue feat recently at a farewell session with senior officers of the command, also sued for compliance as the bedrock of port efficiency.
ACG Mohammed, who until Friday July 28, 2023 was Customs Area Controller of Apapa Command, lauded the revenue collection as an outcome of leakage prevention, zero compromise for duty evasion and due diligence in the face of reduced volume of trade.
While thanking the officers and stakeholders for their support , the ACG described the various interventions such as demand notices to recover identified shortfalls in revenue as helpful.
He specifically commended the N119,049,235,263 July 2023 collection, which is presently the highest monthly revenue made by the command. Before now, N95b collected in January and August 2022 were the highest monthly collection.
The newly promoted ACG thanked the officers, other government agencies, and members of the Apapa port community for their cooperation throughout his time as Area Controller.
According to him, the job of preventing prohibited items such as arms, ammunition, illicit drugs, and others under the import and export prohibition lists from entering or exiting the country through Apapa port was treated as a collective duty under his watch.
The ACG described inter-agency synergy and intelligence sharing as the first bold step in defeating criminals who seek to use ports for their unlawful activities.
According to him, ” Compliance is one word that appeals to both government and private sector stakeholders because we are all governed by rules to which we owe duty to obey.”
“Apapa port holds potential to handle the highest volume of trade in West and Central Africa with the possibility of being a trade hub for seamless cargo movement if importers, agents, and freight forwarders comply by making sincere declarations and avoiding smuggling”.
The former Controller was officially decorated with his new ACG rank on Monday, July 31 2023, by the Ag. Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR in Abuja.