By Francis Ogwo
The Senate is excited about the impressive revenue generating efforts of the Nigerian Customs Service and has instructed the agency to exceed its target this year.
The agency had in the first five months of 2020 generated N573bn out of an expected total revenue of N957bn this year, a performance hailed by the lawmakers.
And with seven months still to go before the year ends, the senate wants the service to block all areas of leakage and ensure it exceeds the target.
The Nigerian Customs Service was initially given a revenue target of N1.6tn in the 2020 budget approved by National Assembly, but the figures were scaled down to N957bn because of the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on global economy.
The marching order, which was made on Thursday from the red chamber, came following the disclosure by the NCS through the Deputy Comptroller General of the NCS in charge of Human Resources, Sanusi Umar, while representing the Comptroller General, Colonel Hameed Ali.
According to Umar, the executive and the legislative arms of government, following the outbreak of the COVID-19, reviewed the initial revenue target of N1.6tn to N957bn.
He was however confident that the NCS would meet the reviewed revenue target despite the challenges it is envisaging around July and August when the nation might likely feel the impact of the pandemic.
In his words, “The target given to the NCS in the initial 2020 budget approved by the National Assembly in December last year was N1.6tn but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the target was reviewed to N957bn.
“As of January to May, the service has collected N573bn.”
While reacting, a member of the Senate Committee, Senator Adamu Aliero, expressed doubts over the possibility of the Customs to meet the N957bn revenue target because of the dwindling oil revenue which has hindered importers from accessing foreign exchange while urging his colleagues to consider the possibility of another downward review.
