MMA Customs Command Collects Over N90b Revenue In 2023, Targets #144b In 2024

By: Chinonye Anyatonwu

The Muritala Muhammed Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS), has said that the command collected the sum of Ninety billion, four hundred and twenty six million, one hundred and eighty five thousands, four hundred and forty seven naira only, (90,426,185,447.01) as customs duty and other charges as revenue for the year 2023. Addressing the news men at a press briefing held at the command yesterday, the Controller of the command, Comptroller Mohammed Yusuf told journalists that the command intercepted a total of ten contrabands during the year under review which made the seizures amounted to N45, 207,423,389.84k in the year 2023. Comparing with revenue collected in year 2022 which stood at Sixty nine billion, seven hundred and sixty eight million, five hundred and nine thousand, five hundred and ninety seven naira, seventy nine kobo (N69,768,509,597.79), shows a clear progressive difference of Twenty billion, six hundred and fifty seven million, six hundred and seventy five thousand and eight hundred and forty nine naira only(#20,657,675,849.22) which depicts 29.61% of increase collected. According to Compt. Yusuf, the difference recorded made possible as a result of resilience of officers in ensuring that agents were made to do proper declaration and adhere strictly to import and export guidelines in line with extant laws. While appreciating the officers and men of the command, he urged them to remain focused and steadfast in discharging their assigned responsibilities. In the area of anti-smuggling, Copmt. Yusuf stated that the officers and men of the command are not resting on their oars in enforcing government fiscal policies and trade guidelines. He declared that the command made a total of 10 seizures in 2023, the items includes, Tramadol, military camouflage jackets, military hardwares, counterfeit medicament, dried shark fins and dried donkey genitals with duty paid value of forty seven billion, two hundred and seven million, four hundred and twenty four thousand, three hundred and eighty nine naira and eighty four kobo only (47,207,424,389.84). Speaking further, he said the seizures were made mainly because of infractions ranging from false declalrations, non compliancy with estimated threshold and failure to comply with extant regulations as enshrined in NCS, Act. He noted that the items have been handed over to concerned sister agencies in the spirit of inter agency collaboration. Also speaking on stakeholder's engagement, Yusuf said the Command has maintained its open-door policy and resolved a lot of issues of common interest with concerned stakeholders. " Let me also at this juncture thank our critical stakeholders, Sister Agencies and the Media for their collaborative efforts and synergy while carrying out our statutory mandate in the state". He thanked the CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, and his team for giving the command the opportunity to perform in their own capacity.