Seme Customs Records Over N350 Million Revenue
••N105 Million Revenue Shortfall
•••Hands Over Fake $6M To EFCC
By Silas Onuoha
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)
Seme Border Command on Tuesday said the Command recorded a revenue collection of
N350, 099,541.71 in the first quarter of 2023.
Addressing the press at Seme Border on Tuesday, Compt Dera Nnadi mni, informed.
“This is N105,095,708.76 or 23.09 percent short of N455,195,250,.47 collected in the corresponding period in 2022.
According to the CAC, the deficit is attributed to the lull in activities during the (CBN) cashless policy and the wait by the traders for the outcome of the general election. He noted that the economic policy of the Republic of Benin that charges on goods in transit to Nigeria constitute tariff barriers to trade along the corridor, which also affected the command’s revenue.
Speaking on the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS), the area Controller, Compt. Nnadi mni said the command facilitated 425 trucks with fees amounting to N314,720,938.71, also 412 baggage declarations with duty amounting to N58,844,382. He said the items imported under this arrangement includes food products and beverages produced within the sub-region.
“One of the core mandates of the Service in Seme as elsewhere is trade facilitation. The command is conscious of its strategic location as the foremost frontier for trade and tourism in West and Central Africa particularly the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) and the emerging African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA).
Nigeria has lots of potential in both trade regimes considering its GDP. population and industrial capacity which is the highest in the West and Central Africa subregion and indeed Africa,” the CAC said.
He went on.
“For export, 1,243 trucks bearing 40,096.47 metric tons of made in Nigeria cargo declared on 165 Single Administrative Documents (SAD) with Free On Board value of N4, 291,322,887.19 kobo and National Export Supervision Scheme Fes of N21, 456,551.83K.
“During the same period in 2022, 3006 trucks bearing 116,053.9 metric tons of cargo with FOB value of N6, 597, 506, 993.28K with NESS Fee of N32, 989,006.16 was recorded.
Compt. Dera lamented that, the shortfall in export to the tune of 75,000 metric tonnes of cargo, is due to competition between Dangote Cement and competitors in the cement market in Togo.
He also noted that other sources of revenue of the command are fees collected from the auction sales of seized items, like petroleum products and other perishable items.
In anti-smuggling and enforcement activities, Comptroller Nnadi said the command recorded milestones in the first quarter of 2023. Some of the anti-smuggling landmarks of the Commnd includes the seizure of fake $6m (equivalent of N2.763 Billion at exchange rate of N460.52 ) which he subsequently handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“Also seized in the first quarter is 2, 242 bags of 50kg rice equivalent to 112,100 kg or four trailer loads of foreign par boiled with Duty Paid Value of N72, 700, 480.
Others are; 7, 587 by 30 liters of Premium Motor Spirit equivalent of 227,610 liters or Seven Tanker loads of PMS with duty paid value of N51, 075, 684.
550 pieces of donkey skin with duty paid value of N10, 689,504.
Six (6) Maltese International Passports with the same picture of a lady but bearing different names, Two (2) Senegalese International Passports , Three (3 ) Togolese International Passports, Four (4) Republic of Benin International Passports, One (1) Republic of Niger International Passport and Ten (10) International Driving License.
“Also seized by the Command is 1160 pieces of dead rats, 1102 pieces of dead tiny birds and 34 pieces of monkey skin and 14 parcels of cannabis sativa.
“These achievements (progress) so far, were not made on a platter of gold. It took the painstaking efforts of the officers who spend hours on patrol and surveillance to record the seizures. We wish to reiterate that we will not relent on this effort and for this reason, the officers are being commended.
“The Command will continue to dialogue, engage, sensitize and educate the public on social/economic implication of smuggling as well as performing statutory function of enforcing compliance in line with government fiscal policies.
“For this we are once more calling on stakeholders in the Seme Krake Corridor and beyond to prepare to embrace AfCFTA while consolidating on the gains ETLS,”Compt. Nnadi said.
He thanked the Comptroller General of Customs, Col Hameed Ali (rtd) and management of Customs, officers and men of the Command, community leaders and partner government agencies who are showing concern and are collaborating with the Service for their continuous support.
Also the press for being objective in reporting the challenges faced by officers while executing their duty.
