The exclusion of importers of the products on the banned items list from accessing official forex funding and porous borders are hindrances to revenue generation by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Comptroller-General Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), said yesterday.
He told the House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise that some deliberate economic policies of the Federal Government were negatively affecting revenue generation by the Service.
The NCS had target to generate N3.019 trillion into the Federation Account this year.
Besides the porous borders that encourage smuggling, Col Ali also said the absence of operational scanners and obsolete laws, amongst others, affect NCS’ operations.
Defending the NCS’ vote in the 2022 Appropriation Act, the Comptroller-General said the Service plans to meet its revenue target.
He gave a breakdown of the revenue to include, N2.019 trillion for federation account; N253.23 billion for non-federation account and N746.96 billion for import Value Added Tax (VAT).
Ali said the revenue target, based on the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper as passed by the National Assembly was higher than last year’s target by N965.42 billion (31.98 per cent).
The NCS boss said the Service collected N1.716 trillion and additional N525.06 billion as VAT, bringing the total to N2.241 trillion as against the N1.679 approved revenue target in 2021.
Ali also presented a budget estimate of N369.14 billion for the 2022 fiscal year to the lawmakers for approval.
It is made up of N151.84 billion of seven per cent cost of collection for 2022,N60.12 billion from 60 per cent CISS, N14.94 billion from two per cent share of VAT share of NCS, N114.39 billion from retained revenue and N27.85 from its share of excess target for 2021.
Ali said the deliberate policies to deny importers of the 44 banned items from accessing forex at official window, non-functional scanners and porous borders have been adversely affecting his agency.
The comptroller-general listed the full implementation of its operations such as the e-Customs project, full automation of Customs licences and Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) as some of the NCS focus in the year.
He said further that as a result of the federal government pursuit of improved Internal Revenue Generation (IGR), the service will, in collaboration with relevant government agencies ensure the implementation of the relevant laws.
Ali disclosed that the attractable excise duty of six per cent on telecommunication services and N10 per litre on carbonated drinks is expected to commence fully before the end of the year.
He also disclosed that three functional mobile scanners have already been installed at different Customs location s, expressing the hope that this will translate into effective trade facilitation and enhanced revenue generation in 2022.
The NCS comptroller said the acquisition and deployment of operational vehicles, two sea-going vessels and 18 patrol boats across Customs formations would enhance the suppression of smuggling activities across different terrains and improve revenue generation.
Chairman of the House Committee Leke Abejide commended the service for over shooting its revenue target for 2021, attributing the feat to prevailing parameters at the time.
He identified such parameters as reduction and removal of 35 per cent levy on new automobile, devaluation of the Naira by the CBN, and unavailability of vaccines that made many economies hitherto closed to be opened.
The lawmaker recalled that the investigation of the House into the issue of scanners at the ports, saying “from our findings at the public hearing and during our tours of various ports, we discovered from the manufacturers that 13 out of 22 scanners can still be upgraded to standard and still serve the nation for the next 10 years.”
He said the Committee of Customs in the Senate and House of Representatives have concluded that reasonable amount of money that will be enough to put the 13 scanners into use be appropriated out of the N27 billion surplus from the 2021 collections of the service.
Abejide said: “Even though we understand that e-customs is coming with 135 scanners, we cannot throw away National assets and also we cannot continue to wait endlessly for e-customs that has not commenced and so, we call for Smith Detection company to do the needful by giving us and your Technical team on the budget the cost we shall look into and incorporate into the 2022 Budget.”
