Nigeria Customs Generates N1trn In 6 Months

Nigeria Customs Generates N1trn In 6 Months

... Verifies 58 private gets

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that it generated N1,003,752,951,735 in the first six months of 2021.

The N1,003,752,951,735 is higher than the N713,548,395,834 generated within the same period of 2020 by N290,204,555,900.

According to the NSC spokesman, Joseph Attah,  58 private jet owners have come forward to have their airplanes verified in line with its new directive on ascertaining their status.

Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, Mr Attah said the Customs management has extended the private jet verification deadline to July 20, 2021, and disclosed that infractions discovered during the verification exercise so far include; breach of temporary importation agreement, non-appropriate payment of duty and taxes.

He added that those in default have indicated interest to pay, while some have commenced the process by making appropriate declarations.

“By the end of this extended period, the Service will not hesitate to invoke appropriate sanctions as contained in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap C45 LFN 2004 as amended, against any private aircraft owner that fails to take advantage of this period to verify his or her aircraft.

“This feat is as a result of the resolute pursuit of what is right and willingness to adapt to changes brought about by global health challenges occasioned by COVID-19,” he stated.

He explained that between January and June 2021, the agency effected 2,333 assorted seizures with duty paid value of N4,422,548,980. Some of these seizures include dangerous items like arms and ammunition, illicit drugs and food items like rice, vegetable oil etc that could have had grave consequences on national security and economy.

It is not clear yet how much the service would realise from the verification of the private jets. There is an initial resistance by some owners.

“Some days to the first expiration period, the level of compliance increased. This willingness to comply is encouraging. Some said they will pay up and so we had to extend,” he added.