The first quarter of foreign commerce was below expectations, according to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Seme Command.
Dera Nnadi, the Customs Area Controller for Seme Command, revealed this yesterday. He said the command earned N350 million in total from imports, which is N150.1 million or 23.09 percent less than the N455 million expected to be realized in 2022.
He claims that the command’s Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) allowed for the transit of 425 trucks and 412 luggage declarations, with fees totaling N314.7 million and N58.8 million, respectively.
He said that food and drink made in the sub-region are among the commodities imported under this agreement.
Nnadi claimed that the lack of funds and the wait-and-see attitude leading up to the general elections were to blame for the slowdown in commercial activity.
He said that the economic strategy of the Republic of Benin, which constituted tariff obstacles to trade along the corridor by charging fees on commodities in transit to Nigeria, had an impact on the command’s earnings.
In regards to export trade, Nnadi stated that the command enabled 1,243 trucks to carry 40,096.47 metric tonnes of made-in-Nigeria cargo, which was declared on 165 Single Administrative Documents (SAD) with a free on-board value of N4.3 billion and a N21.5 million National Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) fee.
3,006 trucks carrying 116,053.9 metric tonnes of goods with a FOB value of N6.5 billion and NESS fees of N33 million were recorded in the preceding year.
Nnadi said that competition between Dangote Cement and rival companies in Togo was to blame for the export shortage of 75,000 metric tonnes of cargo.
He mentioned that fees from the sales of seized goods at auction, particularly petroleum supplies and other perishable items, are the command’s other sources of income.
Regarding enforcement and anti-smuggling efforts, Nnadi stated that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission received a historic seizure of phony $6 million (equivalent to N2.763 billion at the current exchange rate of N460.52) (EFCC).
