Seme customs collects N1.5bn in three months

THE Seme Border command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has collected a total of ₦1,576,153,186.40 in the first three months of 2018, representing 78 percent of the monthly revenue target allocated to the command by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

Also, surveillance efforts by the command in the period under review has led to the arrest of over thirty-two thousand bags of smuggled rice with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over ₦530,000,000.

The Command’s Spokesman, Mr Selechang Taupyen who made this known in a statement in Lagos over the weekend added that the Seme Command had also made a total of 270 seizures with a Duty Paid Value of ₦235,648,447.00 for the same period under review.

According to the Seme Customs Command, “The Customs Area Controller, Compt. Mohammed Aliyu is operating in strict adherence to the reform agenda of the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Ibrahim Hammed Ali (Rtd). This is evident as his operational strategies are determinedly within the service mandate with the nation’s security in mind.

“The command has also succeeded in stemming the impunity and the flagrant abuse of the Federal Government policies by ardent smugglers, who used to operate at the border with dexterity and reckless abandon.

“A well-known traveller through the corridor will bear witness to the fact that smuggling is being confronted headlong and there is no room for impunity and illegalities at Seme route now.

The total and aggressive compliance level in the enforcement of relevant government policies is a thing of admiration in the command as seizures of different contrabands are reeled into the warehouse in a perpetual manner.

“These exceptional performances within the country are felt in other countries as the command’s collaborative effort within the sub-region wax stronger daily. The synergy has yielded an unprecedented feat in the arrest of many items including over fifty stolen exotic cars at the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire under the Interpol collaboration.

“If this performance could necessitate a commendation letter from the Cote d’Ivoire government to the Comptroller General of Customs here in Nigeria, it is worthy of note that the Nigeria Customs Service is undergoing a positive metamorphosis that deserves the commendations of its citizenry.”