The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise has set the sum of N3.01 trillion as the 2022 revenue target for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The Committee also approved N369 billion as the 2022 budget for the service.
Chairman of the Committee, Leke Abejide, said this when the Comptroller-General of the Service (CGC), Hameed Ali, appeared before the group to defend its 2022 budget.
Abejide commended the NCS for exceeding the N1.678 trillion revenue targets for the 2021.
He recalled that during the 2021 budget defence, the CGC presented the sum of N1.465 trillion, which he said was low compared to the parameters prevailing at the time.
He listed the parameters to include reduction and removal of the 35% levy on new automobiles, and devaluation of the Naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He also mentioned the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, which made many economies hitherto closed to be opened, which is why the House raised the revenue target to N1.678 trillion.
The Service has no accommodation for its staff, a situation that forced the personnel to go and rest in those smugglers’ accommodations to find shelter; the places are not conducive.
Abejide noted that although the CGC and his team were sceptical about meeting the target at the end of 2021, the NCS collected N2.241 trillion, thus exceeding the revenue target for the year.
“You have indeed performed well in this area and that is very commendable,” Abejide said, urging the service to improve its revenue collections in 2022.
For the NCS budget, Ali told the Committee that N45.89 billion was earmarked as running cost, N5 billion for staff loan and advances, and N12.57 billion for miscellaneous expenses.
He added that N4.2 billion was earmarked for transport allowance of officers on local and international training, while N1.5 billion would go to general maintenance.
The CGC however decried that the Service has no accommodation for its staff, a situation that forced the personnel “to go and rest in those smugglers’ accommodations to find shelter; the places are not conducive.”
