Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (retd.) said yesterday that the exclusion of importers of the products on the banned items list from accessing official forex funding and porous borders are hindrances to revenue generation.
He told the Committee on Customs and Excise that some deliberate economic policies of the Federal Government were negatively affecting revenue generation by the Service.
The NCS had a target to generate N3.019 trillion into the Federation Account this year.
Col Ali also said that besides the porous borders that encourage smuggling, the absence of operational scanners and obsolete laws, amongst others, affect NCS’ operations.
Defending the NCS’ vote in the 2022 Appropriation Act, the Comptroller-General said the Service plans to meet its revenue target.
He gave a breakdown of the revenue to include, N2.019 trillion for a federation account; N253.23 billion for a non-federation account and N746.96 billion for import Value Added Tax (VAT).
Ali said the revenue target, based on the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper as passed by the National Assembly, was higher than last year’s target by N965.42 billion (31.98 per cent).
