The Kwara Customs Area Command boss, Comptroller Kehinde Dehinde Ilesanmi said his command has generated about N3.6bn in the first three months in 2023.
The Kwara Customs boss stated that the Command during his time would relent on revenue generation, suppression of smuggling and trade facilitation.
Ilesanmi advanced that the anti-smuggling operation launched by the Command has led to 23 seizures of different items, totaling about N34.8 million.
Ilesanmi revealed this on Wednesday, May 10 while addressing pressmen at the Command, in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
“The Command under my watch, from January to March, 2023 (First Quarter 2023) have collected the sum 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 surpasses 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 added.
He said, “these include: 873 kegs of PMS of 25liters each which is 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 1 Motorcycle used in conveying 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 (N25,628,520.00)”.
He also warned members of the public to desist from smuggling activities in the state otherwise they would be made to face the wrath of the law.
“The Command under my leadership will not negotiate the CGC’s zero tolerance to acts of economic sabotage. Smuggling in whatever form is an act of economic sabotage and the Command would ensure that it pursues smugglers to their trenches.”
He thereby sought maximum cooperation from all relevant stakeholders in the discharge of the service statutory responsibilities in order not to hamper the Federal Government’s fiscal policy and to move the country forward.