New Customs Area Comptroller in Kwara State, Aliyu Gaya Bello, has warned factories in the state against compromising on their excise duty.

He read the riot act to all excise duty factories saying they will be severely sanctioned if caught in the act.

Speaking during a familiarisation visit to the factories in the state, Bello, demanded transparency and openness, warning that acting otherwise will not be tolerated by the Customs service.

He urged the factories “to be compliant at all times as it will guarantee their full benefits of trade facilitation.

“The service is saddled with responsibilities of suppression of smuggling, trade facilitation and revenue generation and any act of cutting corners or distortion to meet the set targets will be severely sanctioned,” he asserted.

The Customs boss said the command under his watch will continue to take deliberate steps to work with excise factories and other critical stakeholders to reposition the command.

He said he will not relent on any effort aimed at ensuring total conformity with prompt payment of excise duty to the Federal government.

Bello paid the visit to ensure the factories adhere to the fiscal policy of the Federal government, ascertain their level of production and compliance with the Customs extant laws.

The factories' managers pledged total compliance to the Federal government's new directives and acknowledged that they have enjoyed mutual and beneficial relationships with the command all through the years and will support the comptroller of the new customs to succeed.

DAILY POST recalls that the Federal government early this year, approved the implementation of the 2022 fiscal policy measures made up of supplementary protection measures (SPM) for the implementation of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) 2022-2026 and Excise duty of N10 per litre on non-alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and tobacco products effective from April 1st, 2022.