FOU Zone A Customs rakes in N3.19bn

The Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has recovered N3.19bn in revenue and intercepted smuggled goods with a duty-paid value of N13.08bn between December 2025 and September 2026.

The figures were disclosed by the immediate past Comptroller of the unit, Gambo Aliyu, on Wednesday in Lagos during the handing-over ceremony to Deputy Comptroller Oladapo Olukayode Afeni, who assumed office as the 30th Acting Comptroller.

Aliyu said the unit recovered N3,192,511,547.52 between December 10, 2025 and September 24, 2026, representing 798 per cent of its N400m annual revenue recovery target for 2026.

He said the figure was also 776 per cent higher than the N411,451,901.18 recovered during the corresponding period in 2025.

According to him, the revenue performance resulted from enhanced risk profiling, stricter compliance checks, targeted examination of suspicious declarations, teamwork and collaboration with other government agencies and stakeholders.

On enforcement, Aliyu said the unit recorded 779 interceptions involving prohibited and smuggled goods with a combined duty-paid value of N13,075,056,616.

The seizures included more than 20,900 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 61 used vehicles, thousands of used compressors and clothing items, foreign poultry products and 4,418 jerrycans of vegetable oil.

The unit also intercepted 12,606 parcels of cannabis weighing 6,194.3kg, 2.30kg of cocaine, 76,505 litres of Premium Motor Spirit contained in more than 3,000 jerrycans and 22 elephant tusks weighing 130.84kg.

Aliyu said the enforcement operations targeted smuggling, revenue fraud, concealment, under-declaration, false declaration and the movement of prohibited goods.

The outgoing Comptroller attributed the unit’s performance to improved risk management and compliance monitoring, stressing the importance of inter-agency cooperation in tackling illicit trade.

Taking over the leadership of FOU Zone ‘A’, Afeni pledged to strengthen intelligence-led enforcement, block revenue leakages and protect the country’s economic interests.