By Isaac Anumihe
Having exceeded its 2017 target with N10 billion, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has boasted to do better than last year by setting for itself a revenue target of N1.5 trillion for 2018.
Speaking at the management meeting in Abuja, the Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali, disclosed that the service generated N1.37 trillion, surpassing the year’s target of N770.57 billion.
In a statement, Customs Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, said that in 2017, the service generated N1.37 trillion, surpassing the year’s target of N770.57 billion.
Earlier, Attah, had said that the service recorded its highest revenue collection ever with a total generated revenue of N1.01 trillion in the 2017 fiscal year.
He described the revenue performance as spectacular, noting that the N1.01 trillion was collected with about five working days to the end of the 2017 fiscal year.
Attah said the revenue collection for this year is N241.68 billion higher than the target of N770.57 billion set for the 2017 year. The actual revenue, according to him, is above the N898.67 billion collected in 2016. He said the agency recorded the revenue collection despite the economic recession experienced last year with the low volume of imports caused by restrictions placed on 41 items from accessing the foreign exchange.
“With dogged implementation of the presidential mandate to restructure, reform and raise revenue, NCS has recorded the highest revenue collection ever of N1,012,259,006,779.94 with five more working days to the end of 2017,” he said.
To achieve the revenue collection target, Attah said the Comptroller General of Customs, Ali, took some measures, which include strategic redeployment of officers and men of the service, overhauling and retraining of operatives of the Customs Intelligence Unit and a regime of prompt reward for hard work and punishment for offenders.