Onne Customs facilitates N109 billion export in Q1

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Area II Command Onne Port, said it facilitated export cargoes worth N109 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

Disclosing this in a statement, the Public Relations Officer of the command, Ifeoma Onuigbo Ojekwu, Comptroller Auwal Mohammed, said the total tonnage of the exports stood at 320,245.34 metric tonnes with a free onboard value of N109 trillion.

He said the exported products included sesame seed, ginger, hibiscus, flourite ore, lead ore, palm kernel shell, cotton, float glass, aluminium, ingot, urea, columbite ore, cashew nuts, tin ore and a printed sack.

Mohammed said the command also generated N58 billion from the importation of raw materials and finished goods in the same period.

The area controller added that the figure is N19 billion higher than N38.8 billion collected within the same period in 2021, which shows a 49.3 per cent increase.

In the area of anti-smuggling, Mohammed said the command made a total of nine seizures with a duty paid value of N59 million.

He gave a breakdown of the seized items including 18,555 pairs of footwear worth N26 million, 270 pieces of machinery and parts worth N2.2 million, 3,825 pieces of used tyres worth N26 million and eight bags of rice worth N171, 961.

Other seizures were 555 cartons of soaps and detergents worth N2.7 million, three bales of textile material worth N250, 377 and 72 cartons of tomato paste worth N1.4 million.

Mohammed, who described the feat as a work in progress, urged stakeholders and port users in Onne to continually improve their level of compliance and enhance overall port productivity.