27/04/2021                                                                            
                                    
                                                                            
                                            CUSTOMS AREA 1 COMMAND IN PORT HARCOURT GENERATES ₦18 BILLION IN FIRST QUARTER OF 2021
The Port Harcourt 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has collected the sum of ₦18, 170,597,798 from January to March 2021.
The Customs Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Yusuf Garba who disclosed this via a press statement made available to journalist in Port Harcourt noted that the figure is against ₦16,180,827,894 and ₦13,237,465,044 recorded in the same period of 2020 and 2019 respectively.  He said the revenue collected in the first quarter of 2021 represents an increase of about ₦ 2 Billion from that of 2020.
The statement revealed that the Command collected the sum of ₦6,433,037,926.11 in January, ₦5,031,701,309.59 and ₦6,705,858,563.36 in the months of February and March respectively.
In his statement, the Controller said the importation of Bulk cargoes into the Port was the major source of revenue collection and attributed the increase to the gradual return of port activities, following the disruption caused by the emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In highlighting some of the Bulk cargoes berthing in the port to include Bulk wheat, frozen fish, oil well supplies, Bulk Corn amongst others, he added that the Command also generated the sum of ₦1,158,083,726.00 from the payment of Excise duties through the International Breweries Limited. This figure surpasses the ₦ 891,134,979.00 collected from January to March, 2020. 
He pointed out that International Passenger Flights is yet resume at the Port Harcourt International Airport, however, he explained that the Airport only receives the Allied Cargo Airline which mainly imports Oil Well Equipments that are mostly destined for the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and the Repair and Return of Company equipments which usually attracts the payment of import duty on the value added to the equipment at the point of return. 
Speaking Further, Comptroller Garba said that the Command have being at the forefront in promoting Trade fa