The Port Terminal Multiservices Limited (PTML) Command of Nigeria Customs Service has collected a total of N205,157,566,605 as revenue from January to November 2021.
The Command also bagged an award during the just concluded annual conference and award of the Association of Maritime Journalists of Nigeria (AMJON) for excellent performance in blocking of revenue leakages and improved revenue generation to the Federal Government coffers.
Customs Area Controller of the Command, Festus Okun, however charged all stakeholders to continually increase their compliance level
Also, a statement signed by the Customs Public Relations Officer of the Command, Yakubu Mohammed for the Comptroller Okun and made available to Daily Independent, stated that the collected figure was twenty one percent higher than the N169,160,504,980 collected from January to November 2020 with a difference of N35,997,061,062
Mohammed, Deputy Superintendent of Customs quoted the Customs Area Controller, as saying that the increase in revenue collection is due to a combination of higher volume of trade, improvement in compliance level and strategies put in place to achieve prevention of leakages.
Okun lauded the stakeholders for taking advantage of the improvement in cargo clearance, especially vehicles that are exited from the customs zone within four hours.
Comptroller Okun said: “I must commend the importers and agents using our port for the improvement recorded in compliance. Most of the regular cases of infractions being taken to enforcement for appropriate sanctions when I resumed newly, have become things of the past.
” It is pertinent to remind them that they make more profit and save time for their businesses when they comply and this strategy is paying off for them
“What we do to non-compliant people is to give them the maximum Demand Notices concerning their infractions with the appropriate penalty, which is 25% of total duty accessible.
“When we discovered that this was not even punishing them enough, we introduced a system where we make sure that you go through series of processes that might keep you probably a week or two longer in the system.
“By this, you incur more expenses for your importer who may not likely to give you another cargo to clear, which means that you’re sending yourself out of the market.”
Independent