Customs Zone C Tells Reps Committee: Poorl Ports Patronage, Shallow Channels, Insecurity, Affecting Increase In Revenue
The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has decried poor patronage of ports, shallow canals and insecurity, says these have hampered revenue generation efforts in the South South/South East zone of the service.
The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has decried poor patronage of ports, shallow canals and insecurity, says these have hampered revenue generation efforts in the South South/South East zone of the service.
The Coordinator of the zone (C), Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, ACG Sambo Dangaladima spoke when he received members of the House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise led by Leke Abejide on an oversight visit to Customs formations in the zone.
Other Comptrollers of Customs commands in the Zone spoke in the same vein with the Zonal Coordinator.
Dangaladima further said that poor road network in the zone and concessions on selected food item had also reduced Customs revenue generation efforts in the zone, comprising the six states in the South South and the five states in the South East otherwise, known as the nine commands and Free Trade Zones.
According to him, the zone was working with relevant agencies of government to address the issues in the area, even as he appealed to the National Assembly to assist the service to enhance revenue generation, as the service was committed to building a robust system that align with global best practices.
In his own presentation, Controller of Port Harcourt 1 Command, Mustapha Hashim said the Command lost N34 billion in revenue within five months from August to December 2024 as a result of the concession on selected food items by the Federal Government.
He, however, noted that in spite of the challenges, the command generated N200 billion in 2024, an increase of about N84 billion above what was generated in 2023. billion. Hashim said that so far, it has generated about N56.1 billion in the first three months of 2025, adding that the command had n container ladden vessel as the only vessel that used to bring containers to the command once a month has since stopped, and therefore, it now depend on bulk cargo.
While stressing the need to dredge the channels, he said the port has the challenge of a shallow channel which cannot even take a. Shallow draft of about 7.8 meter, adding that the freight dofferentials between Port Harcourt and Onne has created an unfavaourable patronage for the command.
He said," The implementation of the Federal Government's directives of concessions on selected food items affected the revenue generated by the Command, as over N34 billion was lost from August-December 2024".
Also, the Controller, of the Akwa Ibom/Cross Rivers Command, Chukwudi Ogbonna also complained about low patronage of the calabar port, saying only a few vessels come to the port in Calabar, even as his counterpart in charge of the Edo/Delta Command, Judith Kalu said even though the Command was able to generate N56. 3 billion in the first three months of the year, the channels in the command were shallow and cannot take big vessels.
She said that about 65.770 million barrel of crude oil were take passed through tht command in 2024 Abe about 91,116 metric tons of LPG.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Abejide noted that although the zone was making appreciable progress in revenue generation, there was need to tackle drug smuggling into the country.
According to him, drug smuggling had become a big problem as all the commands they visited under Zone A Lagos have the same problem of drug seizures indicating the seriousness of the problem.
What's Your Reaction?
