By Ifeyinwa Obi

Lagos—The Seme border Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, generated N543 million revenue in May 2016.

A statement by the Customs Area Controller, Victor Dimka,  said the Command made 98 seizures with a duty paid value, DPV, of N83m.

According to him, six suspected smugglers were also apprehended with the seizures made at different levels of investigations and prosecutions.

He  disclosed that fairly used vehicles that were escorted on transit accounted for 70 percent of the duties collected, baggage assessment and other taxes accounted for 13 percent, while imported general goods accounted for 17 per cent of the total revenue during the period under review.

He said the drastic reduction in the importation of general goods occasioned by the high exchange rate and the low volume of economic activities across the frontier have had negative consequences on the revenue drive of the command.

However, he stressed that the increase in quantity of seizures recorded with a correspondent decline in smuggling activities was as a result of the aggressive operation by the enforcement unit of the Command to ensure total compliance with guidelines and procedures. “This has actually translated into exceptional seizures of greater magnitude in the month of May, 2016,” he said.