Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service on Wednesday said that it generated a sum of N3.5 billion (N3,566,997,587.12) between January and March, 2023 as revenue.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, the new Customs Area Controller, Kwara State Command, Comptroller Kehinde Ilesanmi, said that

comparative analysis with that of 2022 indicated that the command surpassed revenue collected same period last year with N779,992,680.64.

Comptroller Ilesanmi, who resumed in January, said that the command also made seizure of 23 different prohibited items, including 451 bags of foreign rice, bales of second-hand clothing, cars, among others during the period, “with a cumulative Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N34,797,020.00”, added that, “This surpasses the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of seizures made in the first quarter of last year 2022 with N25, 628, 520.00”.

The Customs boss, who said that land borders in Kwara state are yet to be opened, warned smugglers and would-be smugglers “to keep away from the length and breadth of Kwara Command or be ready to face the law in its full wrath.

“The Command under my leadership will not negotiate the CGC's zero tolerance to acts of economic sabotage. Smuggling in whatever form is an act of economic sabotage and the Command would ensure that it pursues smugglers to their trenches,” he said.

The Area Controller said that the seizures made by the men of the command included 873 kegs of petroleum of 25 litres each which is about 21,825 litres of PMS, six units of used vehicles, 451 Bags of foreign parboiled rice (50kg each), 23 bales of secondhand clothing, and one motorcycle used in conveying petroleum.

He said that in line with the extant laws and Standard Operational Procedure (SOP), most of the inflammable products have been auctioned to the members of the public, adding that the amount generated as fees has been remitted into the government coffers.

Ilesanmi also said that the Kwara Command through its renewed strategies had continued to achieve increased blockage of revenue leakages and prevented smuggling of prohibited imported items.