Tincan Customs Command Records Remarkable Performance In Revenue, Anti-smuggling Operations

—Generates N274.3bn

(By Asuquo Nuwak)

The Customs Area Controller, Tincan Island Port Command of Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Adewale A. Stephen Oloyede, at the half year press briefing made impressive achievements in Anti-smuggling Operations, which resulted to seizures of various items ranging from 145kg of colorado (Indian Hemp) concealed in 2 units of Ridgeline trucks and 2 units of Toyota Corolla vehicles, 206,000 pieces of machetes, 640 bales of used clothes, 236,500 pieces of used shoes, 62,500 pieces of new lady’s shoes, 1,670,400 pieces of chloroquine injections (5mg/5ml), 1,814,400 pieces of Novalgen injection (500mg/5ml), 48,850 rolls of cigarettes and 23,800 tins of sodium bromate and baking powder.

Further breakdown of the seizures include 3,303 pieces of motor batteries found in three containers falsely declared as three units of Toyota Hiace buses, four units of used Mercedes Benz GL450 2008 model and one units of used 2011 Toyota 4Runner with the Duty Paid Value of N1,301,901,685.12.
While one suspect in connection with the seizures was arrested, one arm pistol gun, two empty magazines and 300 rounds of live ammunition were handed over to the DSS for further action.

It is important to note that the import of these products contravenes sections 46, 47 161 of Customs & Excise Management Act ( CEMA) CAP 45 LFN 2004.

During the period under review, the Tincan Island Port Command of Nigeria Customs Service, has collected a total sum of N274, 320,715, 179.12, as revenue for the half year performance report, which has shown a significant increase of N229,321,865,091.16, as against the amount collected in the corresponding months of the year 2021, representing 27.50% increase in revenue collection.

A review of the activities revealed that the command has recorded an outward throughput in export cargo of 138,246.50 metric tons, representing an increase by 73% from 100,500 metric tons recorded in 2022, with Free On Board (F.O.B) Value of N100, 447.304,814.00, representing an increase of 60% from N66, 294,630,421.00 recorded in the fiscal year 2022.

The Customs Area Controller, Tincan Island Port Command of Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Adewale A. Stephen Oloyede, made the figure available to Journalists during the half year press briefing to showcase Command’s scorecard in the area of Anti-smuggling Operations, revenue collection and trade facilitation in the last six months (1st January-31st June in the Fiscal year 2022)
He acknowledged the critical role played by the Customs Intelligence Unit, Valuation unit, Customs Strike Force, Federal Operations Unit as well as interventions and excellent relationship with sister regulatory agencies such as NDLEA, NAFDAC, DSS, SON, Nigeria Police and others in making these seizures and detentions.

At a well attended half year press briefing, Comptroller Adewale A. Stephen Oloyede, expressed appreciation for the support and clear sense of direction from the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Ibrahim Hameed Ali (rtd) and the Management of the Nigeria Customs Service for their relentless effort towards strengthening the capacity of the Service to perform its statutory responsibilities in line with international best practices.

He further commended the Management of Nigerian Ports Authority for their seamless collaboration with the command in facilitating the clearance process of export-related cargo at Tincan Island Port Command.

In his submission, Comptroller Adewale A. Stephen Oloyede, noted that the command’s operations in the year under review drew inspiration from the theme of 2022 International Customs Day, which was ‘scaling up customs digital transformation by embracing a data culture and building a data ecosystem.

The report made available to Journalists by Comptroller Adewale Oloyede on Vin -Valuation Service described it as a service which uses information obtained through artificial intelligence to assign values to an imported vehicle based on its unique identification number otherwise known as the chassis number.

The objective of the Vin- Valuation service, according to the report is mainly to simplify and facilitate the Customs clearance process of legitimately imported vehicles by providing a uniform, fair and neutral value across board on vehicles with identical brands, model and year of manufacture in line with the provisions of Article V11 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1994.
He said at early stages of deployment of the module the command was faced with challenges of understanding the process, most especially the critical stakeholders.
As Comptroller Adewale Oloyede’s arrival signaled a new dawn in the overall performance of the command in view of the fact that he was emphatic on his vision for renewed enthusiasm in areas of trade facilitation, he was able to overcome the challenges by putting into force Article 2 of the Trade Facilitation Agreement through continuous engagement and consultation with the relevant stakeholders which led to updates and upgrades of the service to address these challenges.

While presenting half year performance report, Comptroller Adewale Oloyede, confirmed that the command have strengthened the risk management structure to mitigate consistent attempts by some non-compliant agents to abuse the process through acts of commercial fraud such as falsification of documents and forgery of signatures.
He however added that the Vin-Valuation service has helped the command greatly to achieve an expedited clearance process due to predictability of value-assessment, increase in revenue generation, improved ease of doing business, generation of accurate statistics for Federal Government and a host of others.

He appreciated members of the press for their invaluable support through thick and thin and objectivity in reporting the command’s activities.

He further assured Journalists that he will not take this partnership for granted. Similarly, he appreciated the contributions of his management team as well as officers and men of the command, while urging them to continue to support this administration as its strive to achieve greater heights.
At the conclusion of the half year press briefing, Comptroller Adewale Oloyede said the command will continue to put in more effort towards better performance, while being optimistic that the e-Customs agenda of the Service couple with the recent deployment of non-intrusive technology such as scanners, the command, according to him, would be able to achieve more in their core responsibilities of revenue generation, trade facilitation and enforcement of government’s fiscal policies.