NCS and revenue collection
That the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) generated N1.341 trillion revenue for the Federation Account in the year 2019, which exceeded the target of N937 billion expected collection by N404 billion, is a heart-warming piece of news. It is a commendable and exemplary achievement by the NCS that should be the standard and replicated by all […]
That the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) generated N1.341 trillion revenue for the Federation Account in the year 2019, which exceeded the target of N937 billion expected collection by N404 billion, is a heart-warming piece of news.
It is a commendable and exemplary achievement by the NCS that should be the standard and replicated by all other revenue generation agencies in the interest of national development.
The 2019 revenue generated by the NCS is consistent with and represents a continuation of exceeding the revenue generation target set for the organisation by the federal government in the last few years under the leadership of Hameed Ibrahim Ali, a retired Colonel of the Nigerian Army.
It can be recalled that the first record-setting revenue collected for Nigeria by the NCS above N1 trillion was in 2017 under his watch.
That performance in revenue collection was N241.685 billion above the N770.567 billion target for the year. And it by far exceeded the N898.673 billion collected in 2016.
The Comptroller-General retired Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali, said the higher revenue collection by the NCS resulted from a resolute pursuit of what is right rather than being populist by compromising national interest to satisfy individual or group interests.
He also linked the continued upswing in revenue collection to the impact of the ongoing reforms in the service, and the implementation of strategic policies.
The strategic policies include the deployment of officers strictly on the standard operating procedure, strict enforcement of extant guidelines by the tariff and trade department, and the automation of the customs process, which has eliminated the inherent corruption in the manual process.
The CGC added that strong stakeholder sensitisation by the NCS has as well contributed in more voluntary compliance, and increased disposition of officers and men to put national interest above personal material gain.
Other factors that contributed to the higher revenue collection are the current partial border closure, which forced cargoes that would have been smuggled to come through sea and air ports.
The NCS as an institution and individual officers who by their roles contributed in the record revenue collection for the country deserve special recognition and appropriate incentives from the federal government, which will in turn encourage personnel in other revenue generation agencies to emulate them.
Salisu Na’inna Dambatta [email protected]