Border Closure: Nigeria Customs Generates Over 1.2 trillion Naira Revenue – NAN

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has generated revenue of about N1.002 trillion from January to September 2019.

The data received by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) from the Department of Research and Statistics and confirmed by the NCS’s public relations office indicated that the revenue was generated from 32 commands.

The statistics showed that the service recorded the highest revenue of N123.6 billion in the month of July followed by N118.6 billion released in May.

The data also revealed that the lowest revenue was recorded in the month of February with N86.3 billion.

The low in February’s revenue might have been caused by 2019 general elections due to partial closure of borders within those periods of polls.

According to the data, the Apapa area command has the highest revenue of N313.5 billion within the period under review.

The statistics also indicated that immediately after the partial closure of borders, the service recorded N115.6 billion in September, with about N6.1 billion more than what was released in August before borders were closed.

The revenue was generated from import duty, levy, excise duty and other fees.

There is every possibility, with these statistics, by the end of 2019, NCS revenue will surpass the earning of 2018, which stood at N1.2 trillion.

NAN reports that 2018 revenue by customs was N164.8 billion more than the 2017 collection, which was N1.037 trillion.

The statistics recorded that Apapa Area Command generated the highest revenue of N313.5 billion within the period under review. It also indicated that immediately after the partial closure of borders, the service recorded N115.6 billion in September, with about N6.1 billion more than what was realised in August before borders were closed.

What you should know: This shows that the border closure has its advantages as it led to an increase in the customs’ revenue. The customs revenue is a collation of import duty, levy, excise duty, amongst other fees.

There were predictions that there would be a major increase in the revenue generated by the customs service by the end of this year from the N1.2 trillion which was recorded in 2018.

Recall that the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Hameed Ali, disclosed in a report by Nairametrics, that the agency collected N9.2 billion in one day and subsequently had been raking in between N4.7 billion and N5.8 billion daily.

This he said was as a result of the border closure exercise initiated by the Federal Government. Ali had termed the closure as a blessing as the service revenue increased.