The Nigeria Customs Service, Area II Command, Onne Port, Rivers State joins Customs formations all over the World to celebrate International Customs Day.
In a statement signed by Lomba Benjamin,
Chief Superintendent of Customs
Public Relation Officer
Area 2 Command, Onne, the
Speaking in the event, the Customs Area Controller talked on the theme “Customs Engaging Traditional and New Partners with Purpose”. He highlights the importance of collaboration and cooperation between customs administrations, International organizations, private sector entities and other stakeholders. By joining forces with both traditional and new partners, customs agencies can enhance their effectiveness in promoting trade facilitation, combating illicit trade, and supporting sustainable development.
Regarding the Area 2 Command, he further said, Traditional partners, such as NPA, Security/border and law enforcement Agencies, regulatory authorities, Shipping lines, Customs Agents, Terminal Operators, Road transport workers even the press, continue to be vital in ensuring customs operations run smoothly.
Collaboration with these partners allows customs to share information, intelligence, and best practices, leading to coordinated efforts in addressing legitimate trade and other transnational threats such as smuggling.
The Command will enhance its risk management capabilities, streamline processes and improve overall operational efficiency by leveraging the expertise of these traditional partners.
However, in today’s interconnected world, the Command needs to engage with new partners to stay ahead of the curve and respond effectively to evolving challenges as they arise.
When asked about the synergy of the Command with both the Traditional and New partners, the Customs Area Controller said in the area of revenue the Command was given a target of 336 billion Naira for year 2023, as of December 31 2023 with the aid of stakeholder engagement, synergy, collaboration and intelligence sharing, the Command was able to collect 313 billion Naira which accounts for 93% of the annual target. This amount is over the 2022 collection by 71 billion Naira and represents 30% increase of the 2022 generated revenue.
As at today, Friday, 26 January 2024 the Command has collected ₦31,496,276,576.00 which is above the 2023 January collection of ₦20,130,775,598.08, with five days left to the end of this month.
In export a total of 1,929,121.22 Metric tonnes of goods with a free on board (FOB) value of $10,188,252,603.24 which is equivalent to ₦9,456,575,171,918.20 was processed through the Command in 2023, and a total of ₦2,038,069,290.51 was recorded for Nigeria Export Supervision Scheme (NESS). These are just few of the results achieved with purposeful engagement of our stakeholders and partners.