MMA Customs generated N90.43bn in 2023

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Murtala Muhammed Airport Command (MMAC), has generated N90.43 billion from customs duty and other charges in 2023.

The Area Controller, Comptroller Muhammed Yusuf, said this at a news conference on Wednesday in Lagos.

Yusuf also disclosed that the command had been given a target of N144 billion for 2024.

He said the revenue indicated an increase of N20.66 billion when compared with N69.77 billion generated in 2022.

“This clearly shows a progressive difference of N20.66 billion, depicting 29.61 per cent increase of collection.

“The difference recorded was made possible as a result of resilience of officers in ensuring that agents were made to do proper declarations and made to adhere strictly to import/export guidelines in tandem with extant laws,” he said.

Yusuf noted that the Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, had urged officers to sit up and block all leakages through technology to achieve the 2024 target.

He added that officers and men of the command had not rested on their oars in enforcing government fiscal policies and other trade guidelines to tackle smuggling.

The customs boss said the command during the period under review made a total of 10 seizures.

Yusuf said the items include tramadol, military camouflage jackets, military hard wares, counterfeit medicaments, dried shark fins and dried donkey genitals.

“These items with the cumulative Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N47.21 billion were seized mainly because of various forms of infractions.

“The infractions range from false declarations, non compliance with the estimated threshold and failure to comply with other extant regulations as enshrined in the Nigeria Customs Service Act,” he said.

He pointed out that most of the relevant items had been handed over to concerned sister agencies in the spirit of inter-agency collaboration.

Yusuf said the command had maintained an open-door policy and resolved a lot of issues of common interest with concerned stakeholders.

He appreciated the command’s critical stakeholders, sister agencies and the media for their collaborative efforts and synergy while carrying out their statutory mandate in the state.

“I want to appreciate the CGC and his management team for opportunity to perform and urge officers and men of the command to remain focus and steadfast in discharging their assigned responsibilities,” he said.