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| Nigeria's Customs DG, Mohammed Dikko |
The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of PTML, Tajudeen Olanrewaju who disclosed this in Lagos Thursday at a press briefing also said the command made several seizures of prohibited items running into several millions of naira.
According to him, the amount generated in Q2 is an improvement from what was generated within the same quarter in 2012.
“In 2012, we generated N33.7 billion in the second quarter but this year it is N33.8 billion which is an improvement of about N120million. This is despite the drop in cargo we experienced in this command. We also lost a major client, Maersk Line which withdrew from our command because the waters here are not deep enough to accommodate the big ships it intends bringing in the country.
You know Maersk Line is a very big shipping company that brings cargoes from far east and now they have stopped berthing at the water here. So our revenue would have been higher than this if not for all I have highlighted. PTML being a Roll On Roll Off (RORO) terminal makes 75 percent of the goods we clear to be mostly used vehicles while other cargoes represent 25 percent”, he explained.
The PTML CAC also stated that loopholes hitherto inherent in the system have been blocked, adding that this has reduced smuggling to the barest minimum and also signalled smugglers to steer clear of the terminal.
“We’ve discouraged smuggling here. Though we’ve some isolated cases of seizures made. We seized six vehicles, fireworks, textiles and others. These are items that are either on the import prohibition list of the government or had forged Customs papers.
“Some also had forged invoices, were under-declared, one 40ft container was also detained for false declaration together with five units of unpacked cars found to have used officers password for release. Three other containers also carried prohibited items with accumulative duty of about N8million. Some agents were arrested but have been released on bail while our legal department is pursuing the matter from there”, he said.
Olanrewaju further said the command will leverage on the cordial relationship existing between stakeholders to deliver excellent service while guaranteeing safety and security of cargoes.
- The Sun