Onne Port Customs  Records 876,775.60 MT Of Export With $495.38m Revenue In Six Months 

The Nigeria Customs Service, Port Harcourt Area ll Command , Onne Port said it collected a whooping total of 876,775.60 Metric Tonnes of export with $495,384,221.99 Free on Board (FOB) from January to June 2022.

The command said the  value translating into ₦203,969,499,562.18 and Nigeria Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) value of ₦1,075,060,914.52 were processed  within the period under review, with over 150% increase from 2021.

The 2022 half year collection shows a remarkable difference from the ₦78b collected in the first half of 2021 and ₦46.6b collected in same period of 2020.

According to a statement, the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Auwal Mohammed said further comparison indicates 147 percent increase above the 2020 collection and 47 percent increase above 2021 figure showing differences of ₦37,097,079,630.91 and ₦68,597,503,002.82 for 2021 and 2020 respectively.

The statement which was signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Command, Ifeoma Onuigbo Ojekwu, said the 2022 export statistics shows an improvement on the 2021 figures which is a fallout of CAC Auwal Mohammed trade facilitation strategies.

“Comparatively, as at June 2021, the command had processed 331,356.40 metric tonnes with free on board (FOB) value of $141,422,075.87. The FOB value in naira was ₦58,229,125,518.73 with NESS value of ₦260,150,300.13”, she said.

 

In the area of anti-smuggling and enforcement, the Command made 28 seizures comprising of nine containers valued at ₦531,386,166.78 Duty Paid Value (DPV).

 

Amongst the seized items were machetes brought into the country without end user certificate, military wears, vegetable oil, whisky, soap and used clothing.

 

Other seizures recorded include used tyres, foreign parboiled rice, tomato paste, used vehicle parts and other items either classified as prohibited or for which duty payment were being evaded.

 

The CAC also informed port users that there is a Domestic Export Warehouse (DEW) approved by fed govt at Onne.

 

According to him the DEW provides further opportunities for exporters to process and package their exports including packaging while enjoying the seamlessness of export cargo warehouse in Onne directly to vessels.

 

He said due diligence by regulatory and government agencies functions, including Customs examination shall be conducted in the DEW facility.

 

Comptroller Mohammed described the DEW facility as a one stop shop emplaced by the Federal Government to promote and encourage export trade which the command has aligned with ahead of its full take off.

 

He was quoted as saying: “This revenue, seizure and export figures coming at the end of first half of the year attests to a good outcome from our efforts.

 

“While thanking my officers and men for sticking to the vision of the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd.) and implementing the service mandate without compromise, I want to thank our compliant traders.

 

“Like I have always said in our parades with officers and meetings with stakeholders, there are numerous advantages attached to being compliant.

 

“It saves time, raises profit of traders by helping to prevent payment of demand notices and penalty payments by persons trying to cut corners and raises the integrity level of the port user in our profiling system for fast track plus other benefits.

 

“Compliant traders are our partners in progress. Indeed, we as a service in this Command will continue to lawfully support them.

 

“It is also expedient to appreciate other agencies of government for their cooperation, intelligence sharing and camaraderie in implementing government policies to enhance national security and economic interests

“I want to urge all our officers to brace up to better performance in the second half of this year and together, let’s achieve outstanding results in all our functions.

 

“My optimism is high because even deployment of scanners to use, will improve on our efficiency”.