- Increases Revenue Recovery by 55%
By Shola Fadeyi
The Comptroller General of Customs Strike Force Team, A, Lagos Coordinator , Comptroller Sani Yusuf has described the Team’s operations in 2022 as a tremendous success .
This is sequel to the spectacular seizures of N9, 122,710,355 in Duty Paid Value(DPV) , which the Team recorded in 2022, and the sum of N5,843,520,477, it generated as underpayments on goods, on which it raised Demand Notice, (DN), sequel to its resolve to collect the correct revenue on the imports.
The revenue recovery in 2022 was even said to be N1, 928, 966,233.00 or 55%, higher than the N3, 914,554,244.00, recorded by the Team in 2021.
The goods impounded during the period , included a special seizure of a truck load of Cannabis harvested in Ghana with a DPV of N516,600,000 , which if not intercepted by the Team , would have, with other hard drugs seized , found its way into the Nigerian economy, to wreck further havoc, and increase crimes rates , when consumed by criminals.
Comptroller Yusuf who announced the seizure while briefing the Press on the activities of the Team in 2022, had also said that the single seizure of a truckload of Cannabis was made to discourage the business of smuggling, because it is capable of destroying the national economy, as well as affect living standard of Nigerians.
The other seizures made during the period by the Comptroller Yusuf Team include 225mg of Tramadol, 100mg of Sildenafil Citrate, Codeine Cough syrup, used tyres and bales of secondhand clothing, bags of foreign parboiled rice, containers of timber, Pangolin scales, slabs of donkey skin and Cannabis Sativa, among others.
Comptroller Yusuf has however attributed the success of the Team to the logistic support given it by the Customs Comptroller General, Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd) its use of Information, Communication Technology( ICT), facility, and the effectiveness of its officers and men while on operations.
Despite that he has been promoted to a full Comptroller ship rank due to his exploits just in one year, and would soon be transferred to handle greater challenges , he has warned that the Team would not only continue to impound the goods of the smugglers but that the gallant and diligent officers will also continue to get them arrested to face the full weight of the Law.
His warning to smugglers and other economy saboteurs has also shown his resolve and patriotism to protect his legacies and that he would be more effective in whichever new position he finds himself.
Yusuf and his officers, were said to have given the smugglers a very tough time , to the extent that the criminals would never forget their experience in a hurry.
Little wonder that the premises of the Customs Training College, Ikeja , Lagos , where the CGC Task Team uses as its operational Area, is jam packed with bales of second hand clothing, thousands of bags of foreign parboiled rice, and many other seized goods .
