₦airaland Forum

Nigeria rakes in between N5 billion and N6 billion daily from imports since the closure of its land borders with neighbouring countries.

Prior to the closure in August 2019, daily duty collections hovered between N4 billion and N5 billon, said the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in Lagos on Tuesday.

The NCS Comptroller-General Col. Hammed Ali (rtd.) attributed the rise to increased activities at the nation’s seaports.

”The NCS daily collection before the border closure ranged between N4 to N5 billion but now, the NCS collects N5billion to N6 billion daily as a result of the rise in activities at the nation’s sea ports,” Ali said on Tuesday at a forum on the “impact of land border closure on the Nigerian economy.”

The forum was organized by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), and the support of Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in Lagos.

The Customs boss, who was represented by the ACG/Zonal Co-ordinator, Zone A, KayCee Ekekezie, also said the border closure had led to a 30 per cent drop in fuel hitherto supplied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for local consumption.

He added that the sums being realized from the ports would help the Federal Government provide more infrastructures and add fillip to critical sectors of the economy.

His words: “This (money) will be used to build more infrastructure and develop critical sectors of the nation’s economy. The border drill has also curbed the diversion of petroleum products from Nigeria to our neighboring countries. NNPC records show a 30 per cent drop in fuel consumption, which means that we have been subsidizing fuel for neighboring countries.”

Ali also stated that before the border closure, NCS had engaged the customs of neighboring countries severally, drawing their attention to the need to comply with ECOWAS protocols on transit of goods and persons.

He said: “The protocol demands that when a transit container berths at a seaport, the receiving country is mandated to escort same without tampering with the seal to the border of the destination country.

”Unfortunately, experience has shown that our neighbours do not comply with the protocol, rather they break the seals of containers on transit to Nigeria at their ports and transload the goods in open trucks which belongs to their country. The trucks will in turn make entry into Nigeria and trans load same onto Nigerian trucks.”

The President of LCCI, Mrs Toki Mabogunje, said the border closure has had positive and negative implications for the economy.

“We have seen appreciable increase in domestic rice and poultry products production and decrease in fuel smuggling to neighboring countries. The directive paid off for the NCS as revenue generated by the agency increased to N1.34 trillion in 2019 from N1.2 trillion in 2019” she said.

On the flip side, she said, the closure has triggered inflationary pressures through rising food prices.She added that food inflation continues to uptrend, hitting a record 14.7 per cent in December 2019, the highest in 20 months.

She said the policy had also led to unplanned losses for manufacturers, especially those who export their products by road.

The Advisor, Borderless Alliance, Mr. Caleb Omoyiola, said the policy had resulted in increased internally generated revenue, rise in consumption of local products and reduction in smuggling.

On the negative side, according to him, is a breach of ECOWAS protocols/rules of integration and free movement of persons, goods and transport within the region.

Meanwhile, the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr Muhammad Babandede, has said that only President Muhammadu Buhari could determine when the borders would reopen.

krasican:
Someone said a station on multi TV did advertise to show the match but until then...

Dreal1247:
Our President is now a comedian. With the level of sympathy shown towards the insurgents by the President, it is a fraudulent faith to believe that he will ever fight for the masses. Call it Boko Haram or Fulani Herdsmen, Mr President is part of them. Why is he not treating the IPOB the same way. Gradually, they will divide this country. The journey has already started.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) on Wednesday told the residents of Borno State that the Boko Haram insurgents or any of their factions cannot carry out attacks on the people without the supports of some of the locals.

Buhari, who was said to be in the state to sympathise with the government and people of the state over the Boko Haram insurgents’ attack which claimed many lives at Auno in Konduga Local Government Area, noted that the fight against insurgency could not be achieved without good intelligence and support of the people.

He said, “Boko Haram or whatever they are cannot come to Maiduguri or its environs without the local leadership knowing, the local leadership is in charge of security in their own respective areas.

“With my understanding of our culture, I wonder how Boko Haram survives up to this end.

“As the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, I campaigned in 2015 and last year on three fundamental issues which include security as you cannot preside over an institution or a country if it is not secured.

“We are working for you in this country; as Commander-in-Chief, I am dealing with the security institutions and I believe there is an improvement in security.

“I urge the people of the state to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies; let us deny Boko Haram access to our loyal citizens and encourage displaced people to go back to their land.”

(NAN)

sunene1:
the party has been interrupted.

sunene1:
Yayi machine is doing justice to 11& 5 on 7e if u know u know.

ishaqstat:
@Manir.Bk any show today?

sauceEEP:
ManirBK can you please give me more details of the key you dropped, the frequency and symbol rate and also the dish size.... thanks

sauceEEP:
For??

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it generated N1.341 trillion as revenue for the year 2019, exceeding the target of N937 billion by N404bn revenue.

The 2019 revenue generation milestone also exceeded the N1.202tr generated in 2018 by N139.2bn, Customs said in a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Joseph Attah.

Commenting on the feat, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col, Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd), described it as a result of resolute pursuit of what is right rather than being populist by compromising national interest on the altar of individual or group interests.

He said the service revenue generation profile had continued to be on the rise annually as the ongoing reforms in the Service insists on strategic policies.

Ali said those policies includes the strategic deployment of officers strictly using the standard operating procedure, strict enforcement of extant guidelines by the tariff and trade department, and the automation of the Customs process thereby, eliminating vices associated with the manual process.

Area4Area:
....but it contributed to some extent.
We wish the Eco countries and Aftca guys all the best as you all trade but count Nigeria out please.

goldgold:
Is pensioner included

fergie001:
My younger sister was complaining same thing to me on Wednesday..... UAB & Assecc......hahahahahahaha

This Next level affect everybody jarey....