Oluyinka Onigbinde
With less than a month to the end of the year, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), may be unable to meet its N3.1trillion revenue target, investigation by Shipping Position Daily has revealed.
Shipping position, however, gathered that this will be the first time the service will fail to meet up with its revenue target for the year since Col Hameed Ali (rtd) assumed office as Customs Comptroller General (CCG).
Recall that the federal government through the National Assembly had set a revenue target of N3.019 trillion for the service 2022 fiscal year.
However, data analyses of revenue collected by the service from January to October this year revealed that the service could have a shortfall of more than N500 billion in meeting up with the N3.1 trillion targets
Our correspondent reports that the service generated a total sum of N2.14 trillion in the last 10 months (January to October) thereby still leaving the service with a shortfall of about N1 trillion as against last year where the service surpassed its revenue target with about three months left to the end of the year.
Checks by our correspondent revealed that the NCS exceeded both the N1.465 trillion, the service presented during the 2021 budget defence and the N1.678 trillion raised by the lawmakers as the 2021 revenue target, collecting a total sum of N2.241 trillion as revenue last year.
Data analysis by Shipping Position Daily also revealed that the 2022 revenue target when compared with the 2021 revenue target was higher by N965.42 billion or 31.98 per cent.
Although Ali while explaining the strategies the service will use to improve revenue generation in 2022 before the National assembly early this year explained that the revenue target for NCS in the 2022 financial year was set at N3.019 trillion, consisting of N2.019 trillion for Federation; N253.23 billion for Non-Federation and N746.96 billion for Import VAT.
Ali had said considering the federal government’s drive towards improved internally generated revenue, the Service was collaborating with relevant government authorities to ensure effective implementation of the Finance Act.
While disclosing that three functional mobile scanners had already been installed at different Customs locations, he said subsequent to the purchase and deployment of operational vehicles, two sea-going vessels and eighteen patrol boats across Customs’ formations, would enhance the suppression of smuggling activities across difficult terrains to improve revenue collection.
Speaking on why the NCS may fail to meet up with its revenue target, the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) Dr. Muda Yusuf blamed the dropped in cargo importation due to the widening foreign exchange rate as a major reason why the service may not meet up with its revenue target.
Yusuf explained that since there is a drop in numbers of cargo coming into the country it will significantly affect the Customs revenue target.
“Of Course, since there is a drop in cargo importation, it will affect their revenue, you know Importers can no longer import as much cargo as they will due to widening foreign exchange rate, scarcity and all that, so we should expect a drop already there is a deficit of about N10 trillion in the 2023 budget” he said.
Confirming that the service won’t meet up with its revenue target for the year 2022, the CCG while speaking recently at the 55th session of the presidential briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential villa Abuja, blamed the exclusion of importers of some products on the banned items list from accessing official forex funding and porous borders as hindrances to achieving the revenue target of the service.
He also blamed the protracted controversies around the agency to collect telecommunication tariff, which was recently resolved in the NCS: favour, as a hindrance to achieving the said target.
The Customs CG explained that the projection as at the time the N3.019 target was set was based on the assumption that the NCS would start the collection from the beginning of the year.
The suspension of the telecom tariff until recently when it was resolved, he said, would pose a great challenge to meeting the target.
Ali also said the delay in the collection of carbonated drinks’ tax might also pose another challenge, adding that the Customs only recently commenced the collection of the tax which, he noted, was also part of the assumption as at the time the 2022 target was set.
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Ali disclosed that the Customs would make about $17.6 billion for the country at the completion of its automation.
He projected that the Customs would need $3.5 billion to fully automate its operations and limit human interactions.
Also commenting on how the service intends to generate about N1 trillion left of the revenue target of N3.019 trillion with less than a month to the end of 2022, the National Public Relations Officer of the service, Deputy Controller Timi Bomodi, said the service is still optimistic as to realizing the revenue target stating that even if the service fails to meet up, it is not really a factor that we need to break heads over
“We just can tell you many things can happen between now and that time, your concerns are germane as to whether we can meet up or not. It is also good that you recognize the fact that FX is a big factor, there are people ordinarily that will not import if they think that they will not be able to make their profit considering what will cost them to buy, ship and then clear
“So it is not really a factor that we will break our heads over because of the nature of that market itself, sometimes it goes up, sometimes it comes down, but we will try and meet up, you know if in an exam you score 90% that is an A, so we hope to score above 90% and at the end of the day we will pat ourselves in the back that we’ve done a good job” he said.
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