The Kano/Jigawa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has made a seizure of contrabands valued at about N499 million, as part of the ongoing operations aimed at degrading smuggling activity along the land borders of the two states.
In the same vein, the command has made a total revenue collection of about N10.5 billion in the first quarter of the year (January to March), as against the sum of about N7.6 billion collected within the same period last year.
Mohammed A. Umar, area comptroller in charge of the command, who made this disclosure, while briefing journalists, weekend, on the operational performance of the command, hinted that the bulk of seized items is made up of foreign rice.
According to him, the break-down of the seized items, includes, 1,031bags of 50kg of Foreign Rice, 151 bags of Spaghetti, 91 Bags of Macaroni, 3712 bags of Donkey Dry Skin, 1237 cartoons of foreign mayor soap, 131 bales of Second-Hand clothes, and 3 bags of Donkey Pennis.
Umar said that since assuming office, the command has grown its revenue profile by about 30 percent, which was attributable to the excellent cooperation and support given by the personnel of the command.
“I welcome you all to a press conference of the Kano/Jigawa Area Command conceived to showcase our revenue collection and anti-smuggling drive since I assumed office. Today, marked the first day I am addressing the press, stakeholders, and the Business Community on the journey so far.
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“This is in line with the core mandate of our amiable Comptroller –General, Col Hameed Ali (RTD), as well as his operational policies and agenda of the Federal Government to suppress smuggling across the country`s border and boost revenue collection.
“You will recall that the total revenue collection of the command last year was about N27.5 billion, and within the first three months of this year, we have been able to make about N10.5 billion, which is much higher than what we had in the previous year.
“All of us are indeed very delighted over this remarkable achievement, and we are more determined to ensure that we sustain this new height in our revenue collection, as well as in our fight against smuggling”, the comptroller stated.
On what his command was doing to boost trade in the state, Umar noted that he has initiated regular dialogue sessions with the Business Community in the state, through which issues affecting the business environment are discussed.
He also hinted that his command was working in partnership with the management of the Free Trade Zone operating in the state to boost revenue collection from companies in the zone.
