ABUJA: Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has realised N1 trillion as revenue from the services in 2014, which it projected to increase this year.
Speaking at the unveiling of Indepth newspaper in Lagos, the Customs Area Comptroller, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Folorunsho Adegoke, stated that before the introduction of Pre- Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) in 2013 by NCS, the service was collecting about N2billion yearly from the government as subvention.
“PAAR is a Customs baby because we felt we could do it and we are doing it. Before now, we were collecting close to N2 billion yearly from Federal Government as subvention, but since we started the PAAR in 2013, have since stopped such collections”, he said.
According to him, the revenues earned on import and export duties has increased by 20 per cent, since the service stopped the collection of the subvention.
He however noted that with the introduction of PAAR, clearing of cargo had reduced to six hours from its initial six days when it was operating Risk and Assessment Report (RAR).
“Now, within 12 months, we were able to collect 20 per cent more than what was being collected in the previous regime, which was RAR. The time it takes to get RAR was about six days, but now with PAAR this can be achieved within six hours inasmuch your documentations don’t have any issues. It was really tough when we started, but within few period, we were able to identify the challenges and acted on them,” he added.
Also speaking, the Publisher, Indepth Newspaper, Nze Aloy Igwe said that that birth of the newspaper was informed by his love for the profession and to be part of the success story of the nation that required all hands to be on deck for its growth, survival and development.
He added that: “ indepth News is a general news interest publication that will perform the basic duty expected of the media which is to inform, educate and entertain among others”.
“Therefore this publication is very timely indeed and should be seen as a veritable means to promote your organisations and services we render in our respective sectors of the economy. Our promise therefore is that we will balance our reports”, said Igwe.
