By Moses Ebosele, ebosele@hotmail.com –
The Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA) Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) collected N29.1billion in the first and second quarter of 2019 as against N22.7billion attained within same period in 2018.
According to the command, the revenue collected from January to June 2019 represents 112.4%; adding that the development “this did not only surpass the set revenue target of Q1 & Q2 2019 with ₦3,219,843,233.00 but also surpassed that of 2018 Half Year with ₦6,399,747,155.00”.
A statement issued by J. Ephraim, CPRO explained that within the period, the command made an unprecedented number of seizures and detentions of various items with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of Three Hundred and Eighty Two Million, Two Hundred and Twenty Thousand, Sixty Two Naira (₦382,220,062.00).
Amongst the items seized within the period are –
One Thousand and Two (1002) PCS of Air-Force Berets
Two Hundred and Eighty Nine (289) PKGS of different makes of Drones
Two Hundred and Seventy Two (272) PCS of two way Walkie-Talkie Radios
One Hundred and Fifty Two (152) PKGS of Camouflage Inner Vest, Combat Shorts, and Camouflage Polo Shirt (No End User Certificate)
One Hundred and Fifty (150) PKGS of Camouflage Peak Caps
One Hundred (100) PCS of Trackers
Seventy Nine (79) Pairs of Camouflage Footwear
Fifty Nine (59) Cartons of Tramadol (handed over to NAFDAC)
Forty Three (43) Bags of Donkey’s skin
Forty Three (43) PKGS of Desert Camouflage Combat shorts
Twenty Seven (27) PKGS of Complete set of Camouflage Uniforms, Safety Belts and rope
Seven (7) PGKS of Pangolin Scales
Hard Drugs (Cocaine) imported from Pakistan, concealed in two cartons and declared as household items in NAHCO Shed (handed over to NDLEA)
Hard Drugs suspected to be American Cannabis concealed in baby doll (handed over to NDLEA)
Also, the sum of 50,000,000 US Dollar arrived the country without proper documentation, which was seized and handed over to EFCC in the presence of the DSS for further investigations.
The Customs Area Controller, Comptroller JT Shoboiki (Mrs) PhD on her Parade that was held on Wednesday 17 April, 2019 gave out awards of recognition to twelve selected officers who excelled in their various Sheds for their dedication to duty, discipline and revenue generation.
She explained that henceforth, hardworking officers will be celebrated by the Command as a means of motivation to enhance their productivity.
