Apapa Customs generates N1.2trn in seven months
…Records highest monthly revenue collection of N201bn in July
By Seun Ibiyemi
The Apapa Port Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it generated a total of N1,227,431,323,016.24 as revenue between January and July 2024
The command also collected N201.8 billion for the month of July this year, being its highest monthly collection in the history of Nigeria Customs Service.
Comptroller of the Command, Comptroller Babatunde Olomu, fsi who disclosed this on Wednesday, said he is committed to surpassing the existing records of revenue collection.
According to the CAC, the collected revenue for seven months of 2024 is higher than the total revenue collected for the twelve months of 2023.
He attributed the success to his implementation of the Comptroller General of Customs thrust of time release study to facilitate trade without delay.
This move, according to him, yielded outstanding results, which reflected in the command’s revenue collection.
Expressing confidence in the Command’s ability to do better, Comptroller Olomu said, “I am 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 January to July this year, the Apapa Area Command generated a total of 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, Post Clearance Audit , 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, MFR dsm psc (+).
“Apapa Command handles the highest volume of trade for the NCS, collects the highest revenue, and therefore is saddled with a higher degree of expectation from the management of the service and the government,” he said.
Comptroller Olomu said the command also enjoys the support of sister government agencies and cooperation of compliant port users.
He said the meeting with port stakeholders before the commencement of the nationwide protest to assure them of Customs availability during the period has further strengthened port users’ confidence.
“Recall that I met with our stakeholders before the commencement of the nationwide protests to assure them of customs availability for work during the period.
“I am pleased to note that the turn up has been encouraging and work has been going on unhindered,” he said. Olomu disclosed that the command’s daily revenue collection of N9billion has bounced back to its normal range after a brief dip during the nationwide protests.
He said on Thursday, August 1st when the protests began, the command collected less than N2 billion but by Friday, the revenue collection had improved, with the command collecting over N9 billion.
“When the protest began last Thursday, we had less than N2 billion.
“However, it improved on Friday, we collected over N9 billion and on Monday, things have picked up. We had about N12.5 billion and Tuesday, we had over N11 billion.
“This means we are still meeting up with our daily revenue collection even though it impacted negatively on the first day,” he said.
Comptroller Olomu advised Apapa port users to embrace only legitimate trade and restated that the Apapa command is more alive to its responsibilities to detect all forms of concealment and plug any avenue for revenue leakage to the barest minimum.
