LAGOS: Apapa Area 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, yesterday said it collected a total of N23.3 billion as revenue for the month of September, recording a short fall of N6.7 billion.
One of the reasons adduced for the fall is the incessant gridlock in the Apapa axis of the state.
In a statement, the Customs Area Comptroller, CAC, Charles Edike said; ”The decline in revenue might not be unconnected with the exclusion of some items from foreign exchange transactions by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Edike also said that the Apapa gridlock has taken its toll on the revenue profile of the command
“The Apapa gridlock has actually affected the customs revenue because it has affected trade,” he said.
The report indicated that N12.6 billion went into the Federation Account in September comprising import duty, fees and Common External Tariffs.
It said that under the Non-Federation Account, the command generated N10.7 billion from 5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT); 7 per cent Port Levy, and 0.5 per cent ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS).
Other sources of revenues into the Non-Federation Account are one per cent Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS), National Automotive Council (NAC), levies on rice, iron, sugar and wheat grain.
The report also indicated that N11 million was collected from the Negotiable Duty Credit Certificate, NDCC.
The NDCC is a document accepted for duty payment from importers who bring in materials for production purposes.
It will be recalled that the command generated N74.1billion in first quarter of 2015.
