AfCFTA: Nigeria Customs remains committed to national security – Ali
The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) says the customs remains totally committed to the course of protecting national security and economy as Nigerian borders open to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
The Comptroller-General said the customs in 2021 generated the sum of N2,240,880,308,195.77; the amount generated was over the target of N1,678,715,016,014.00 set for the year. It was over the sum of N1,562,115,419,216.32 generated in 2020 representing 43.45% increase.
Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali who made this known in a statement released by Comptroller Joseph Attah, National Public Relations Officer of the Service, called on Nigerians, especially the business community to support the customs for Nigeria to benefit from the trade agreement and other cross border activities.
“Nigeria Customs Service remains totally committed to the course of protecting national security and economy; we call on Nigerians, especially the business community, to support the Nigeria Customs Service as our borders open to African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in order to benefit from the trade agreement and other cross border activities,” said Ali.
Commenting on this financial feat, Ali described it as a result of the resolute pursuit of what is right and a willingness to adapt to changes brought about by global health challenges occasioned by covid-19.
He noted that the service revenue generation profile has continued to be on the rise annually as the service management insisted on the ongoing reforms in the Service.
“The service efforts to prevent the entry of items that could compromise the security of our citizens, Economy and the well-being of our people resulted in the seizures of 5,096 assorted items with a duty paid value of N13,796,646,685.60 and 160 suspects at different levels of Investigation or Prosecution,” he said.
Ali noted that in the year the service installed three brand new Scanners in Apapa, Tin-Can Island and Onne Ports, introduced a mobile tracker application that enables individuals to remotely validate any declaration/payment and most importantly the status of any vehicle/cargo at any point and also introduced of Standard Operating Procedure for the use of scanners.
He maintained that all these landmark achievements in 2021 are capable of boosting national security and economy as the service acquired rugged, gun trucks to secure anti-smuggling operatives in an increasingly hostile environment while the e-customs take-off process is now at the stage of the final signing of the agreement.
“All these are expected to impact positively on trade facilitation, fight smuggling, block revenue leakages and significantly impact on revenue generation and national security,” said he.
