Trade facilitation : Customs at Onne Command hits 876,775.60 metric tons of exports

Trade facilitation :
Customs at Onne Command hits 876,775.60 metric tons of exports

* Boosts federation account with ₦115.3bn revenue

* Intercepts Military
wears; machetes, tyres, items worth over N531.5m

The Onne Port Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has made the Federal Government proud with exceptional performance in trade facilitation, as the Command supervised 876,775.60 metric tons of exports within a short period of six months.

The 876,775.60 metric tons of exports have monetary value of $495,384,221.99 Free on Board (FoB) value, which translates into
₦203,969,499,562.18 in half year of 2022.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of Onne Port, Compt. Auwal Mohammed, disclosed these details through the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Command, SC Ifeoma Onuigbo Ojekwu.

Compt. Mohammed explained that the 876,775.60 metric tons of exports attracted Nigeria Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) value of ₦1,075,060,914.52 for the period under review.

He informed :
“The above export figures are over 150 percent increase in value to that of first half 2021.  The 2022 export statistics showed improvement on 2021 figures, which is a fallout of the Command’s rejigged trade facilitation strategies.

“Comparatively, as at June 2021, the Command had processed 331,356.40 metric tons with Free on Board (FoB) value of $141,422,075.87.  The FoB value in Naira was ₦58,229,125,518.73, with NESS value of ₦260,150,300.13”.

More so, Compt. Mohammed brought to the knowledge of port users, a Domestic Export Warehouse (DEW),
approved by the Federal Government at Onne for export activities.

According to him :
“The DEW facility provides further opportunities for exporters to process their exports, including packaging while enjoying seamlessness of export cargo warehouse in Onne directly to the vessels.”

The CAC assured that due diligence by regulatory and government agencies, including Customs examination
shall be conducted in the DEW facility.

His words : “DEW is a one-stop-shop facility emplaced by
government to promote and encourage export trade, which the Command has aligned with ahead of its full take off”.

REVENUE COLLECTION :
In the same vein, Compt Mohammed, presented impressive revenue record of N115,264,159,921.12 (approximately N115.3billion), realised within the same period from January to June 2022.

His assertions :
“The 2022 half year collection shows a remarkable difference from ₦78billion collected the same period in 2021; and ₦46.6billion generated the same time in 2020 fiscal year.

“Further comparison indicates 147 percent increase above 2020 collection and 47 percent increase above 2021 figures, showing differences of ₦37,097,079,630.91 and ₦68,597,503,002.82 for 2021, as well as
2020 respectively.”

Apparently, the huge revenue collection at Onne Command under Compt. Mohammed, shows geometrical progression on monthly basis, resulting in cumulative differences recorded for the three years.

ANTI SMUGGLING/ENFORCEMENT :
In the first half of 2022, the Command made 28 seizures, comprising of nine containers, valued at ₦531,386,166.78 (Duty Paid Value).

Comparatively, the half year number of seizures in 2022 is higher than 20 seizures made from January to June 2021.

The seized items include machetes imported into the country without end user certificate, Military
wears; vegetable oil; whisky; soap and used clothes. Others were used tyres, foreign parboiled rice, tomato paste, used vehicle parts and
other items either classified as prohibited; or for which duty payment were being evaded.

The CAC emphasised :
“The revenue collection, seizures and export figures coming at the end of first half of 2022 attest to a good outcome from our efforts.
While thanking my officers and men for sticking to the vision of the Comptroller General of Customs,
CGC Hameed Ibrahim Ali and implementing the Service mandate without compromise, I want to
thank our compliant traders.

“Like I often say during our parades with officers and meetings with stakeholders, there are numerous advantages attached to being compliant traders .
It saves time, increases profit of traders by helping to prevent payment of demand notices and penalty
payments by persons trying to cut corners. Also, it shows high level of integrity of port users in our profiling
system for fast track plus other benefits.

“Compliant traders are our partners in progress. Indeed, we as a Service in this Command will continue
to lawfully support them. It is also expedient to appreciate other agencies of government for their cooperation, intelligence sharing and camaraderie in implementing government policies to enhance national security and
economic interests.

“I want to urge all our officers to brace up to better performance in the second half of this year and
together, let’s achieve outstanding results in all our functions.
My optimism is high because even deployment of scanners to use, will improve on our efficiency”.