Nigeria Customs Service generated N1,341,690,568,327.18 in 2019. The amount generated is over the target of N969,831,167.83 set for the year 2019 and N139,241,835,082.29 over the sum of N1,202,448,733,244.89 generated in 2018.

This was disclosed by the Customs Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, in a press statement on Thursday.

According to the statement, the service revenue generation profile has continued to be on the rise annually as the ongoing reforms in the service “insist on strategic deployment of officers strictly using the standard operating procedure; strict enforcement of extant guidelines by the tariff and trade department; automation of the Customs process thereby eliminating vices associated with the manual process; robust stakeholder sensitization resulting in more informed/voluntary compliance; and increased disposition of officers and men to put national interest above selves”.

He also attributed the growth to the partial closure of the country’s land border, which has forced cargoes that could have been smuggled through the porous borders to come through the sea and air ports.

Before the commencement of the border drill on 20th August 2019, revenue generation was between N4 billion to N5 billion but NCS now generates between N5 billion to N7 billion daily.

“The partial border closure is a decisive action against the challenging issue of trans-border crime and criminalities, fueled by the noncompliance to ECOWAS Protocol on transit of goods by neigbhouring countries.

“NCS hopes that the ongoing discussions with our neighbours will yield permanent solution to the challenges of border security.

“The Service wishes to express its readiness to strictly implement the outcome of the ongoing diplomatic engagements.

“In the same vein the Service efforts to prevent the entry of items that could compromise the security of our citizens, national economy and the well being of our people resulted in the seizures of 30,906 assorted items with a duty paid value of N62,134,426,199.00.

“These seizures include arms, ammunitions, illicit drugs, used clothings, vegetable oil, frozen poultry and foreign rice among others that have grave consequences on economy security and well being of Nigerians.

“While we give our assurances of total commitment to the course of nation building, we call on Nigerians, especially the business community to support the NCS on the ongoing drive to robustly contribute to national security and create enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the country,” he said.