The House of Representatives The Customs and Excise Committee has set the sum of N3.01 trillion as the revenue target for 2022 for the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
The committee also approved N369 billion as the 2022 budget for the service.
House Customs and Excise Committee Chairman Leke Abejide had this to say as the service’s Comptroller General Hameed Ali appeared before the committee to defend the services budget for 2022.
Mr. Abejide commended the NCS for surpassing N1.678 trillion for the 2021 revenue target.
He recalled that during the defense of the 2021 budget, the CGC presented the sum of N1.465 trillion, which it said was low compared to the parameters prevailing at the time.
He listed the parameters to include the reduction and elimination of the 35 per cent tax on new cars and the devaluation of the Naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He also mentioned the availability of vaccines against COVID-19 that caused many hitherto closed economies to open up.
Abejide said the house raised the revenue target to N1.678 billion.
He said that although the CGC and his team were skeptical about meeting the target by the end of 2021, the NCS raised N2.241 billion, thus exceeding the revenue target for the year.
“In fact, it has performed well in this area and that is very commendable,” Abejide said, urging the service to improve its revenue collection in 2022.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ali, the CGC, stated that N45.890 million was earmarked for operating expenses, N5.000 million for staff loans and advances, and N12.570 million for miscellaneous expenses.
It added that N4.2 billion was earmarked for the transport allocation of officers in local and international training, while N1.5 billion would be spent on general maintenance.
The CGC, however, pointed out that the service does not have accommodation for its staff.
He said that the situation had forced his staff “to go to rest in the lodgings of those smugglers to seek refuge; the places are not conducive.”
(YAYA)