27,595 agro-products containers, others exported in 11 months – Customs

The Nigeria Customs Service has stated that the country exported 27,595 containers of non-oil products between January and November 2024.

The service in a post sighted by The PUNCH on Monday added that the exported containers have a free-on-board value of $1.9bn.

The service added that the exported containers were mostly agricultural products, manufactured goods, solid minerals, and others.

“Non-oil exports between January and November. Number of containers: 27,595, with a free-on-board value of $1.901bn. The containers mostly carried agricultural products, manufactured goods, solid minerals, and others,” the service said in the post.

According to the post, agricultural products represent 50 per cent of the total export within the period under review with a free-on-board value of $967m while other exports represent 17 per cent of the total export with a free-on-board value of $323.7m.

“Solid minerals represent 16 per cent with a value of $318m while manufactured goods represent 15 per cent with a value of $292m,” the document added.

In November, The PUNCH reported that the service announced that it collected N5.7 trillion in revenue as of Tuesday, 12 November 2024.

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this during the 2024 Comptroller-General of Customs Conference in Abuja themed “Nigeria Customs Service: Engaging Traditional and New Partners with Purpose.”

Adeniyi expressed optimism about the service’s capacity to achieve more for the economy.

“Our strategic engagements and collaborative approaches have yielded remarkable results across our core statutory responsibilities. I am pleased to announce that, as of 12 November 2024 at exactly 13:10 hrs, the NCS hit its 2024 revenue target of NGN 5.07 tn, collecting NGN 5.079 tn with more than a month remaining in the fiscal year,” Adeniyi said.

Meanwhile, reacting to the number of exported containers, the National Public Relations Officer of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria, Mr. Taiwo Fatobilola, termed the feat a welcomed development.

“If it is so, it will manifest in our exchange rate; it will positively affect the exchange rate by bringing down the exchange rate. We are going to start feeling the positive impact by next year. That means Nigeria will have more of its money in the hands of foreign nations than in their own hands, so it is a welcomed development.

It is a positive development,” he said.

Also speaking was a chieftain of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Mr. Ojo Akintoye, who commended the service for achieving the feat.

“We commend them for a job well done; exports have been encouraged.

As a matter of fact, since the inception of this government, exports have been encouraged. If not for the devaluation of the naira, we could have seen more than that; everything is working as expected. My question is how does what they mention now benefit common Nigeria? How do common Nigerians benefit from this achievement?” he queried.

Head of the Department, Shipping and Terminal Logistics of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Mr. Nnadi Ugochukwu, said, “It is a welcomed development; if what they are saying is correct, it’s a welcomed development. That is what we are praying for so that there would be more exports than imports coming in.”