Revenue Target and the Shame of Customs
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Hameed Ali was a pitiable picture when he, lately, appeared before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Customs to defend the Customs 2017 budget estimates. This was because the agency’s revenue for 2016 fell short of its target by N216.5 billion. According to the custom boss, the NCS only succeeded in collecting N720.7 billion, representing 76.8 per cent of the target revenue between January and December last year. The 23.1 per cent decline was against the original target of N937.3 billion set for 2016 by the agency.
The Customs boss gave a number of inexplicable reasons for his failure to meet the revenue target. However, he did not talk about corruption in the NCS under his watch. This is the main reason the NCS will never meet revenue target. Itse Sagay, the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption was right when he remarked that “it is still business as usual” at all Customs formation across the country. The bulk of the revenues collected in our ports go into the private pockets of Hameed Ali’s men. This is why the Customs can’t amass just N1 trillion in a whole year. I strongly believe that a well-managed and corruption-free NCS can generate at least N5 trillion annually for this nation. In this light, I think this government should start thinking about privatising the collection of Customs and Excise duties as being done in some developed countries. This is the only way forward for our country.