Steve Agbota
Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, has said that the agency generated about N4.042 trillion into Federal Government’s coffers between 2015 and 2018.
Giving highlights of the revenue, CGC said Customs raked in N904.072 billion, N898.673 billion, N1.037 trillion and N1.202 trillion in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively, to bring the total figures to N4.042 trillion from 2015 to 2018.
Ali said the Federal Government has set a revenue target of N887 billion for the Service in 2019, assuring that the figure will be surpassed as management has set a far higher in-house target for itself.
Speaking at the 2019 International Customs Day (ICD) with the theme, “Smart Border for Seamless Trade, Travel and Transport,” the Customs boss said the Service intends to swell its revenue generation by acquiring non-intrusive equipment to boost trade facilitation, while ensuring that stakeholders comply with trade rules.
However, as a way of disincentivising smuggling, he urged the Federal Government to crash clearance cost of vehicles to about 10 per cent.
According to him, “we have 35 per cent duty and 35 per cent levy, and so if you import a brand new vehicle into Nigeria, you pay 70 per cent duty. From what we have done, and based on statistics, we discovered that this duty has now driven most of our importers to neighbouring ports and has also increased the rate of smuggling of new vehicles into the country.
“Having interacted with our stakeholders, we discovered from what they said that the sudden increase in duty is what is driving them. And since 35 per cent duty cannot be tinkered with, the one that can be tinkered with is a policy by the Nigerian government. The 35 per cent was put in order to encourage our automotive industry developed. If we reduce the levy, the volume of cars that would be imported into Nigeria will increase and the revenue from NCS will increase.”