COMPTROLLER MOHAMMED AUWAL MAKES A CRACK SHOT OF REVENUE COLLECTIONS IN SIX MONTHS SAYS THERE IS NO HIDE OUT FOR SMUGGLERS AND ILLICIT IMPORTATIONS

Not many people are surprised that Comptroller Auwal Mohammed, Area Controller, PortHarcourt Area II, Command, with office at Onne seaport , has made the port to be too hot for Fraudulent importers with their agents and smugglers. The Onne Customs Comptroller may have sent a signal to the importers with their agents that the era of making false declaration, wrong classification, Concealment or making underpayment is over when he was deployed to the Command in 2020.

The Customs Comptroller was said to have blocked all the areas of revenue leakage at the port and tightened up security at the port exit gate to effectively monitor the movement of cargoes in and out of the port to ensure that the right thing was done.

He may have relaxed in the recent time the tight security put up by Ibrahim Mahmood , a Deputy Copmtroller, overseeing the exit gate and his officers that it has been difficult for the fraudulent importers with their agents to exit the gate with their suspected cargoes. Those who were said to have made attempts to have their way were said to have had their Containers transferred to the Command Enforcsement Unit for proper Examination and subsequent issuance of Demand Notice, DN, or outright seizure.

The Officers at the Command at the Enforcement Unit may have made matters worse for the Fraudulent importers with their agents and their security agencies collaborators by putting a close tab at what is happening at West African Container Terminal, WACT, and other Terminals within and outside the port to ensure that Containers positioned for Examination were thoroughly examined and they have been able to make Contraband seizures over the last seizures.

Ifeoma Ijeoma Ojekwe, a Superintendent and the Command Spokesperson, had said that between January 1st, 2022 and June 30, 2022, the Command had made 28 seizures , comprising of nine Containers, both ‘’20’’ and ‘’40’’ and Contrabands valued at about N531.4 million.

Giving an insider information , the Onne Customs spokesperson said the Contraband items that were seized by the Command within six months of 2022, were matchets, which were imported into the country without the End User Certificate from the office of Babagana Munguno, a Major General and National Security Adviser, NSA. Many had expected her to give out the quantity of the matchets that were seized but she failed to do so, keeping Nigerians guessing.
Recall that last April, Comproller Adekunle Oloyede, the Area Comptroller of Tincan Island Command had seized eight ‘’20’’ Containers comprising of Two hundred and six thousand pieces of brand new matchetes. The matchetes imports were seized by the Command beause it did not have the End Use Certificate from the office of the NSA.

Other contraband seizures that were said to have been made by the Onne Command within the six months under review as explained by the Customs Superintendent include Vegetable oil, soap, used clothing, used tyres, foreign par boiled rice concealed in Containers and tomato paste, used vehicle spareparts and other items that were classified as prohibited in the 2022, fiscal policy for which duty payment were not made.

Another area, PortHarcourt Area II Command under the close watch of Compt. Mohammed had made appreciable impact at the Onne port in the last six months was in revenue generation. Although, the Custom Comptroller had kept as a closely guided secret the revenue target set for the Command by Hammed Ali, An Army Colonel, rtd , led Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Management Team from its N3.1trillion set for it by the Federal Government, there are indications that the Onne Area Controller who had successfully blocked all areas of revenue leakage at the port had and his officers have been working towards the realisation of its monthly targets.

The release of the approval for implementation of the 2022 Fiscal policy measures and tariff amendment by Hajia Zainab Ahmed, minister of Finance , Budget and National Planning on March 1st, 2022, and subsequently distributed to the Customs Formations by the Customs helmsman last May wassaid to have forced Compt. Mohammed and his Management Team to go back to the drawing board to perfect plans on how to improve on its monthly revenue collection, and trade facilitation.

The 2022 fiscal policy measures, which was said to have been made up of the Supplementary Protection Measures , SPM, for the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Common External Tariff, CET, , 2022-2026, Excise duties on non-alcoholic beverages alcoholic beverages, Cigarettes, Tobacco products as well as Telecommunication services.

The approved SPM, according to the minister was’’ in line with the provisions of the ECOWAS CET which comprise of Import Adjustment Tax, IAT, list with additional taxes on 172 tariff lines of extant ECOWAS CET’’. There are indications that the import Prohibition list Trade for the 2022 Fiscal year was also revised, which may have put more goods on the import prohibition list and more job for the Command Exit gate and Enforcement officers to do.

Superintendent Ojekwe, the PortHacourt Area II Command, spokesperson had said that the Command generated a total sum of about N115.264 billion in the first six months of 2022, compared to the N78 billion that was netted by the Command within the same period in 2021 and about N46.6 billion in 2020 fiscal year.

Informed sources told The Value News that the Command collected the highest duties on imported goods between the months of May and June, 2022, with the implementation of the approved 2022 fiscal Policy Measures which was in line with the ECOWAS extant CET.

Maritime analysts believe that Compt. Mohammed led Port Harcourt Area II, Could make that much in its revenue collection in six months despite the low volume of cargo traffic with the deployment of its scanners received from the Customs Headquarters in September 2021.

Prior to the deployment of the scanners for operation at the port, Compt. Mohammed had said that the Examination officers comprising of officers and other security agencies personnel, could examine 100 Containers, both’’20’’ and ‘’40’’ Containers daily but with the deployment of the scanners, the number of the Containers examined by the Command would increase significantly.

Saidu Galadima, an Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, overseeing the Information, Communication and Technology, ICT, /Modernisation, Departmenet, had said that that the scanner equipment could scan 400 Containers daily when fully put into use.

In the Area of exports, the Command was said to have handled a total of 876,775.99 metric tonnes of cargoes with $495,334,221.99 Free On Board, FOB, value , equivalent of N203,969,499,562.18, and Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme, NESS, value of N1,075, 060,914,.52, within the period under review .

Indeed, with the impressive performance of the PortHarcourt Area II, Command in the first half of 2022, the Onne Customs Area Controller was said to have asked the various Heads of Unit and the officers under them ‘’to brace up for the second half the year’’ , which he believes would be much better as all ‘’the necessary measures have put in place to make the difference in its anti-smuggling operations and revenue collection as well as encourage more exports through the seaport to the West Coast and the International market’’.

The Customs Comptroller is optimistic that with ‘’the cooperation with the other security agencies, Camaraderie, Intelligence gathering and sharing in implementing the 2022, government Fiscal Policy measures to enhance national security at the country’s seaports and Land border areas for the economic interests of the country, the Command will make more impressive revenue collections and contraband seizures in the remaining second half of the 2022 Fiscal year.