Kwara Customs Controller Gives Account Of Stewardship At Maiden Press Conference , Says 23 Seizures Recorded In 3 Months
Comptroller Kehinde Ilesanmi on Wednesday gave account of his stewardship as Area Controller of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS ), Kwara Command in three months disclosing that 451 bags of foreign rice seizures were made while a new approach to revenue generation had also been introduced.
Ilesanmi , who was appointed as Kwara state customs chief in January 2023, said this during his maiden press conference at the headquarters of the state command on Wednesday, noting that he has taken necessary steps to reposition the Command and make it more accountable, responsive and reliable.
The customs chief added that he has come up with a creed ‘with the concept of policing our land borders and our other area of responsibilities (AoR) in line with international best practices and in accordance with all extant laws as enshrined in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap C45, LFN 2004 as amended’.
‘The anti-smuggling measures put in place by the Command have yielded astronomical successes and recorded Twenty-Three (23) seizures of different items. These include: 873 kegs of PMS of 25liters each containing about 21, 825 liters of PMS.
6 units of used vehicles of different types, 451 Bags of foreign parboiled rice (50kg each), 23 Bales of secondhand clothing and 1 Motorcycle used in transporting PMS.
The cumulative Duty Paid Value (DPV) for all the above seizures is Thirty Four Million, Seven Hundred and Ninety Seven Thousand Twenty Naira (N34, 797, 020.00). This surpasses the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of seizures made in the first quarter of last year 2022 with Twenty Five Million Six Hundred and Twenty Eight Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty Naira (N 25, 628, 520.00)
However, in line with our extant laws and Standard Operational Procedure (SOP), most of the inflammable products have been auctioned to members of the public’ he said.
Ilesanmi also said the command’s new approach to revenue generation has yielded positive results.
‘I paid familiarization visit to major excise factories in Kwara state. The essence was to look into industrial trade facilitation which will ultimately increase production and positively impact revenue generation through total compliance. Today, I make bold to say that the visit is yielding positive results, and this is evident in the revenue collected by the Command in the first quarter of this year 2023. These results will be sustained in days ahead.
The Command under my leadership from January to March, 2023 (First Quarter 2023) has collected revenue to the tune of Three Billion Five Hundred and Sixty-Six Million Nine Hundred and Ninety Seven Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty Seven Naira Twelve Kobo (N 3,566,997,587.12).
A comparative analysis with the preceding year 2022 indicates that we have surpassed revenue collected same period last year 2022 with Seven Hundred and Seventy Nine Million Nine Hundred and Ninety Two Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty Naira Sixty Four Kobo N779,992,680.64’ he said.
The customs chief also warned smugglers and would-be smugglers to keep away from the length and breadth of Kwara Command or be ready to face the law in its full wrath adding that ‘the Command under my leadership will not negotiate the CGC’s zero tolerance to acts of economic sabotage’.
He noted that smuggling in whatever form ‘is an act of economic sabotage’ and the Command would ensure that it pursues smugglers to their trenches’-Team@orientactualmags.com
Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980. Thank you
