The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it has recorded a great achievement with its highest revenue collection of over N1trillion.
NCS Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, who revealed this on Thursday during a press conference in Abuja, said the revenue generated in 2017 by the Service is the historical figure ever.
With a few more working days to the end of the year, Attah said Customs recorded N1,012,259,006,779.74, as against the N770billion target set for the year.
He said: “This spectacular performance in revenue collection shows N241,685,276,289.74 over the N770,573,730,490 target for the year and well above the N898,673,857,431.07 collected in 2016, despite the economic recession experienced earlier in the year, with the low volume of imports and restriction placed on 41 items from accessing FOREX.”
The Customs spokesman further informed reporters about some strategic measures applied by the management of the Service before such feat was made.
According to him, the Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Colonel Hameed Ali, has restructured and repositioned the Service for efficient service delivery.
He listed some of such measures taken to include the redeployment of officers and restraining operatives of Customs Intelligence Unit among others.
Attah, however, said the Service experienced some difficult situations to deliver its mandates, adding that six of its officers fell in the line of duty this year.
He said the Customs boss had directed sustained onslaught against smugglers, especially during the festive period and called on Nigerians to reflect on the value of patriotism and shun all forms of smuggling.
He added that Customs would continue to play a more pivotal role in Nigeria’s security and economic well-being, with the right leadership and improved support from Nigerians.
