By Obiabin Onukwugha
The Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has again achieved a record high N16billion revenue in one day.
This amount surpasses the N11.3 billion collected in November 22, 2023, thus making it the highest daily revenue collection in the history of the command.
The command in a statement on Tuesday, said the milestone was recorded on Friday, February 23, 2024.
It quoted the Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the command, Babajide Jaiyeoba, as describing the achievement as one of the expected fallouts of the many strategies he has put in place.
The statement read in part: “The laudable revenue collection in the face of declined volume of trade was achieved as a result of weekly strategy meetings between the CAC and sectional heads to review and evaluate success and challenges with a view to continually improving on the command’s achievements.
“There have also been more regular stakeholder engagements between the command, sister government agencies, importers, exporters, terminal operators, and all others involved in the cargo clearance and supply chain.
“Under Comptroller Jaiyeoba, there has been a remarkable improvement in the number of containers being scanned to save time and operate in line with the expectations of modern customs administration.”
Meanwhile, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has lamented frustration faced by its members in the course of doing business at the port.
ANLCA Chairman at the Tin Can 2, Femi Olabanji who expressed recent frustrations being experienced by her members at the releasing department of the Apapa command of the Nigeria Customs Service, urged the Customs Area Controller of Apapa Customs, Compt Jide Jaiyeoba to investigative the trend.
“If you go to the Apapa scanning section, if you scan your container, there is no alert. Your scanning is okay. But when you get to the releasing section, they will check it and ask you to go and reposition it again for scanning or for physical examination.
“It takes four or five days to reposition the container again. It’s not something you can just go there and say, please reposition, you have to pay. All these things are affecting the cost of doing business, if an officer does not know the job, they are not supposed to be put into such position.
“At the Apapa releasing section, I am begging the CAC to look into this challenges, you can call other agents and investigate what I am saying. The system is not going right.
“This is not the first DC we are having at the releasing department, but the woman we are having there now, I am not saying she doesn’t know the job, she knows the job, but she should try to know what she’s doing. The people she put behind to look at documents, they are not helping her at all.
“The releasing office is like a market everyday, and everybody is crying, they want to send every job back to valuation. When they send it back to valuation, valuation will tell you that they are not requesting for your document. They know your document is within the range. But before you get out of there, it will take 10 days and you are paying demurrages of N60,000 everyday to terminal operators”
“Let the Area Controller send an investigation team to that place and see what i am saying, what we are facing at that department is not easy” he stated.
Olabanji regretted that despite efforts by the Comptroller General of Customs, Wale Adeniyi to reposition the agency, officers on the field were frustrating the innovation.
