N1.2bn generated on rice importation through land borders – NCS

Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it has so far recorded a total revenue of N1,178,720,376 on rice imports through the land borders in October and November 2015.

NCS said during the same period, the total quantity of rice imported through the land borders still stood at 17.596 metric tons.

As contained in a statement signed by Wale Fabiyi, NCS public relations officer, the figures were disclosed at a strategy session convened by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali to review revenue performance for the year.

It would be recalled that the Comptroller-General of Customs had approved the removal of the restriction placed on importation of rice through the land borders. The removal was predicated on the large-scale rice smuggling through the land borders, resulting to huge revenue loss and distortions in the price of the item in the local markets.

“The huge collection in just two months has vindicated our position. If we had stuck to our previous directive, this much quantum of rice would still have been smuggled anyway, and we would have lost over a billion naira revenue at this critical period of economic downtown,” the Comptroller-General said during the meeting.

According to Fabiyi, the breakdown of the rice imports shows that Idiroko border in Ogun Command has the largest volume of 8.276 metric tons, with a collection of N555,152,344 duty, while Katsina borders comes next in quantity of 3,636 metric tons, where total revenue of N242,985,626 was collected during the same period. A total of 2.156 metric tons was imported through the land borders of Oyo/Osun command, generating a total revenue of N144,278,025.

“Other Commands include:‎ Seme  – 2,140 metric tons with N143,349,658, Sokoto – 602 metric tons with N40,162,759‎, Kano/Jigawa – 470 metric tons with N31,536,148, Adamawa/Taraba – 248 metric tons with N16,545,422, Niger/Kwara/Kogi – 68 metric tons with N4,710,394.