Only 25 Nigerian free trade zones are active, says Customs

• Collects N68b tax from manufacturers of beer, and others in six months

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has disclosed that only 25 out of the 42 free trade zones in the country are active, a situation that has affected the revenue potential of the government.

This comes as the NCS remitted N1.2 trillion as revenue into the Federation Account between January and June 2022 while its revenue target for 2022 is N3.019 trillion. This means that the service must double up efforts to collect about N2.8 trillion in the remaining six months.

The NCS, while reading its half-year score card that captured activities from January to June 2022, disclosed that of the 25 active free trade zones, 15 of them are operating in Zone A, four in Zone B, five in Zone C and one in Zone D.

The National Public Relations Officer, NCS, Timi Bomodi, who gave the report, said these Special Economic Zones, in addition to providing employment opportunities for Nigerians, are expected to engender the transfer of technology, help build local capacity, provide a viable market for other local producers of raw materials and increase the quality of goods, which can potentially be available in the local market on the payment of relevant duties and taxes.

He said N156 billion was also generated into the non-federation account as collections made on behalf of other government agencies.

Speaking on the excise, free trade zones and industrial incentives, Bomodi said a total of N68 billion was collected from manufacturers of beer, spirits and other alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and tobacco, among other products within the period under review.

He said the excise duty being tax levied on the manufacture, sale and consumption of goods under excise control was collected through 22 Commands of the Service.

He said also in June, the NCS commenced collections from extant traders producing carbonated and sugary drinks newly added under schedule 5 of the Common External Tariff (CET).

Bomodi said so far, the NCS has been collected from carbonated and sugary drinks over N1 billion in June.

According to him, other revenues from telecommunication (call and data), and digital network services are yet to be collected, adding that NCS is expected to start collecting revenue on these products and services as soon as the modalities for collection are put in place.

He said duties from these revenue sources are expected to boost the NCS collections in the current year.

Speaking on enforcement/anti-smuggling, the Customs spokesperson said there have been remarkable interventions in the anti-smuggling activities of the Service.

He said in the period under review, various goods with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N39 billion were seized due to regulatory and policy infringements.

He said the top seven items seized are narcotics and other illicit drugs with a DPV of N8.7 billion, followed by foreign parboiled rice with a DPV of N8. 2 billion and illegal imports of dangerous pharmaceuticals with a DPV of N7.6 billion.

Other items he listed include, used clothing with a DPV of N4 billion, petroleum products with a DPV of N 3.6 billion, textiles and made-up fabrics with a DPV of N2.5 billion and motor vehicles with a DPV of N1.8 billion.

Bodi said the DPV value of seizures in the current year exceeds that of seizures made in 2021 by a whopping N34.7 billion.

On illegal wildlife trafficking/trade, Bomodi noted that the service, in collaboration with the United States embassy in Nigeria, and the British and German governments, enabled the creation of a Special Wildlife Office, which has spearheaded an intelligence-driven approach to curbing the illicit trafficking and trading in endangered species.

According to him, their effort has seen the arrest of 12 foreign and local suspects, the confiscation of 1,236.5 kilogrammes of pangolin scales and 145 kilogrammes of ivory with all the suspects since charged to court and awaiting conviction.

On anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism, Bomodi said the Anti-Money Laundering Unit (AML) of the Service has recorded tremendous successes in the period under review.

He said the service made seizures of USD 339,800, 12,000 Pounds, 3,013,500 RYD, 20,005 CFA and 133 ATM cards.

Bomodi said seven persons were arrested in violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution.

“The Nigeria Customs Service is optimistic about achieving the revenue target set for it by the government. Our focus is on fortifying our risk management tools to drastically minimize leakages and curtail the activities of non-compliant traders. We understand the important role of technology in this endeavor that is why our focus is on actualising the full automation of all our activities as encapsulated in the concession agreement vetted by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and signed with Trade Modernisation Nigeria Limited and our technical partners Huawei Technologies Limited.

“This agreement promises to usher in a whole new era that will radically transform the operations of the Service and bring it at par with leading Customs Administrations,” he added.