Oluyinka Onigbinde
Stakeholders in the maritime industry and the nation’s economy, in general, have knocked the Federal Government over the recent N 4.1 trillion revenue target given to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
They told our correspondent that the revenue target will discourage investors as well lead to high dependence of the importation into the country.
The stakeholders also warned that the high revenue target will increase the cost of doing business in the ports and as well hinder trade facilitation.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise [CPPE]; Mr Muda Yusuf bemoaned the continuous revenue target given to Customs, stating that the excessive emphasis on revenue generation will impose a lot of burden on investors and the entire business community at large.
In his words: “One of the biggest challenges we have in the Nigeria economy, I mean for investors, is the over-excessive emphasis on the revenue generation by the Customs Service, because that mindset has imposed a lot of burden on the business community. In their bid to meet the target, the Customs do all sort of things, such as increasing issues of changing classification, revising the value of imports in order to achieve the target, and at the end of the day what we lose in the economy by way of the adverse effect of the investors’ confidence is much more than the revenue they generate.
“I think the government needs to think through all of these things, they have been talking about a greater or a shift of focus from revenue generation to trade facilitation but apparently with the new target, I don’t think even the government is concerned about trade facilitation, everything is about revenue and at the end of the day, it is the investors that will suffer; it is the economy that will suffer.
“It will increase the cost of production, it will affect profit margins, it’s going to increase even the arbitral connectivity that characterized the national trade process, especially with government agencies, so I don’t think it’s a good thing to do. I think the focus should be on trade,” he said.
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Speaking also, a member of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and former Director-General of the association, Mr. Remi Ogunmefun opined that the revenue target will discourage export and lead to high importation of goods which is not good for the economy.
He said: “If they increase the revenue by 100%, that means we are encouraging more importation. Ordinarily, I don’t think that is the intention of the government because they have tried a lot to diversify this economy and some of those painful measures they are taking are also good for the economy, we should look at it very well; if the increase is coming from export, Customs also takes money from export then, it’s good for Nigeria, but if it’s from imports that means we are encouraging more importation, instead of encouraging a lot of people to produce and export and make more money for Nigeria, something is wrong here and this is not too good”.
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Mr. Bismark Rewane in a chat with our correspondent, noted that it is the smugglers that will be most likely affected by the revenue target. He added that the revenue target will increase the value of imports and as well increase the efficiency of the Nigeria Customs Service.
“The revenue target point to two things: One, in spite of the fact that Customs revenue has doubled, the potential revenue is higher than actual revenue, they should be more patients in what they are doing, we must bear in mind that since the revenue is on import, it will also increase the value of imports”, he said.
When asked if the revenue target will not affect trade facilitation he said: “It is the smugglers that will be affected more than anyone else, what I also see is that, with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) it is expected that import duty on some African countries will reduce, there might be a challenge there”, he said.
Meanwhile, some clearing agents have also lampooned the Federal Government for its emphasis on revenue collection, they described it as means to further impoverish importers and send them out of business.
Speaking to our correspondent the factional Chapter Chairman of Tin Can Chapter of ANLCA, Mr Ojo Akintoye urged the Federal government to place more emphasis on trade facilitation rather than on revenue generation.
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