…As Customs hopes to break 2017 record in 2018 — Official***

The Kano/Jigawa Customs Area Command said it had generated over N13 billion as revenue from January to December 2017.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Isah Danbaba and made available to newsmen in Kano on Friday.

He said the amount collected was above the allocated revenue target of N10 billion given to the command by the Management for the year under review.

“The command under the stewardship of Comptroller Yusuf Abba-Kasim, has made history by recording an unprecedented performance in revenue collection from January to December, 2017.

“The command collected and accounted for N13.05 billion, as against the allocated revenue target by the Management for the year of N10 billion,” Danbaba said.

He said the command with the support of Comptroller General (CG) of Customs Compliance Team, Customs Intelligence Unit and Federal Operation Unit seized smuggled items with duty paid value of over N374 million in the period under review.

Danbaba said the major items seized included foreign rice, vegetable oil, second hand clothes and drugs, among others.

“In October and November 2017, officers of the command intercepted and seized tramadol hydrochloride 225mg and diazepam worth N40 million,’’ he said.

While commending the officers and men of the command for the giant strides in the discharge of their statutory duties, the Customs Area Comptroller attributed the achievements to CG, retired Col Hameed Ali, for his motivation and necessary support.

He also commended other sister security agencies, community leaders and other relevant stakeholders operating in the area command for their cooperation to the command.

On the ban on importation of vehicles and rice through the land borders, the controller called on the business community to key into the Federal Government’s economic agenda for the development of the country.

In the meantime, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has expressed the hope to exceed 2017 record of revenue collection performance in 2018, appealing for support from all Nigerians.

The Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Attah, told newsmen on Friday in Abuja that the NCS received Federal Government support in 2017 “and this would translate to more patrol vehicles and equipment to perform even better in 2018.

“We are prepared to do more of what we did last year and we look forward to breaking the record of 2017 in 2018 by God’s grace.”

Attah, who expressed displeasure over stories in some national dailies that implied that the service was having lingering friction with National Assembly, said it was “disturbing .”

According to him, some national dailies choose to put a headline like “Customs Blames National Assembly for 2017 Performance.

“For avoidance of doubt, we want to say that the relationship between NCS and
the National Assembly is cordial: there is no problem and we have no reason to blame the respected body for what is generally accepted as a very good performance in 2017.

“How do we (Customs) blame an individual or an organisation when many are commending the service for a job well done in terms of revenue collection and suppression of smuggling?.

“We are not reporting something negative, we are reporting something positive, does it make sense to blame somebody for performing very well?.”

Attah also said that the service generated a total sum of N1.037 trillion at the end of 2017.

According to him, the reinvigorated anti-smuggling operations in 2017 raked in a total of 4,492 assorted seizures with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N12.78 billion.

He added that these included the 2,671 pump action riffles, dangerous drugs, vehicles and rice, among others, noting that 207 suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures.