By BON PETERS, Port Harcourt

The Nigeria Customs Service Area 1 Command Port Harcourt, Rivers State, says the Command has generated and collected the sum of N43,625,986,168.40 in the First Quarter of 2024.

The figure represented a 23.68 per cent of the gross revenue target of the Command for the 2024 fiscal year which is N184,221,730,121.48.

This disclosure was made by the Customs’ Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Mustapha Hashim, in a press release made available to journalists in Port Harcourt, Monday where the Area Controller, Comptroller Hashim was quoted as saying that the revenue for the first quarter of 2024 revealed a significant difference of N15,118,178,135.52 when compared to the corresponding period of 2023 which was N28,507,808,032.88, and thereby represented a 53.03 percent increase. Comptroller Hashim noted that the major collections for the first quarter were realized in the months of January and March, 2024 through the collections of N17,065,088,480.16 and N16,601,579,604.01 respectively, and both surpassed the 2024 expected monthly revenue target of N15,351,810,843.46.

He further stated that the Month of February experienced a slight shortfall in revenue with the collection of N9,959,318,084.23.

He expressed optimism that with the revenue trajectory of the first quarter, coupled with the Command’s resolve to enhance the enabling environment and enforce compliance from stakeholders, the Command would meet its expected revenue target for 2024.

In the area of capacity building, Comptroller Hashim also noted that the Command had organized several training programmes for officers in the Command, with particular emphasis on the releasing officers who were newly promoted to the ranks of Assistant Comptrollers.

According to the Area Controller, these trainings were geared towards imparting requisite knowledge in areas such as fraud detection, proper classification and documentation of clearance processes, insisting that, these training workshops had exposed the officers to the issues of Non-Conformity with statutory clearance procedures and other vices such as under-payment, false declaration and wrong classification.

In the area of Export, the Controller noted that there was a tremendous increase in the quantity of Metric Tons in the first quarter of 2024. He revealed that the total metric tons of cargo exported in 2024 stood at 2,098,457.61 as against 669,037.95 metric tons recorded in 2023, which represented an increase of 213 percent.

Furthermore, Comptroller Hashim stated that there was an increase in the payment of Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) fees to the tune of N1,415,491,519.87 as against that of the corresponding period of 2023 which was N266,753,193.52, thereby surpassing that of 2023 with a 430 percent increase.

He hoped that with the coming on stream of the Ibeto Wharf, the Command would experience an upward surge in Import and Export activities, as the Terminal had been given approval to berth and discharge container cargoes.

Comptroller Hashim expressed his appreciation to the officers and men of the Command for their hard work and dedication towards achieving the mandate of the service, and called on them not to lose focus on the task ahead.

He equally expressed his gratitude to the Comptroller General of Customs, CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi for his exceptional leadership qualities and unrivaled creative acumen, in steering the ship of the Nigeria Customs Service.

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