The Apapa Area Command, Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, of the Nigeria Customs Service has said there was a 21.6 per cent drop in cargoes at the command.
The Customs Area Controller in charge of the command, Hammi Swomen, disclosed this in Lagos on Thursday while addressing journalists during the unveiling of the command’s clinic.
He said that traffic congestion, a dilapidated section of the road and ongoing road construction on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway posed a big challenge to the transfer of containers from mother ports to the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal.
He added that the command relied almost exclusively on transfer by barge.
The KLT Customs boss said it has been difficult for the command to get the required infrastructures they needed to operate.
“It has not been easy accessing the office, coming to work and going back home. So, the road is one of our major constraints. I also mentioned that this building is not ours. It belongs to Nigerian Ports Authority. So, it has affected us in putting some structures on the ground to help us perform Customs duties. For example, we don’t have a functional cell in the command. We have to rely on Federal Operations Unit Zone A to keep our suspects,” he explained.
Swomen blamed the unavailability of forex for importers and bad access roads to the command as a reason for the drop.
“Most of you are also aware of the trend in the economy last year. You know the prices of goods in the market. The exchange rate of the naira against international currencies has been a challenge but we didn’t just sit down, fold our arms and say we have this problem.”
He said the command since it was created received the first vessel directly to the terminal in November 2022.
He added that he has been able to increase the number of terminals under the command.
“We have a situation on the ground in the terminal where we are really solely on transfers. But I am happy to tell you that for the first time in the history of the command we received our first vessel in November 2022 from one of the terminals. So, it is no longer a case of relying on Apapa and TinCan but we also receive vessels directly.
“We also improve our revenue performance and create an enabling environment where the importers will have a seamless business environment. We are also hopeful that the full automation of our processes is coming along. We are also very hopeful that when this road is completed it will be a very different story for us,” he noted.
Swomen said that in 2022, the command generated N44bn as revenue.
“The revenue represented a 21 per cent increase when compared with N35bn collected in the year 2021. Nine seizures of 39 40ft containers and three 20ft containers were made with a duty paid value of N737m,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Zonal Coordinator, Zone A of the service, Modupe Aremu, while unveiling the clinic, thanked the CAC for the initiative.
“This noble act is commendable. We need good health to be able to work. So, it is quite commendable. We expect better compliance from our stakeholders. Very soon we will have a health check for all officers of the service,” she concluded.
SOURCE: PUNCH
