Customs officers to get incentive-based pay

Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, says the federal government is working on the introduction of performance related pay for officers of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

Adeosun explained that this in a bid to significantly increase the level of revenue generation of the NCS, motivate improved revenue collections, and reduce corruption.

“This exercise found that the provision of modern equipment, elimination of inappropriate waivers and remuneration emerged as issues,” she said at the senate hearing on revenue projections in the 2016 budget on Tuesday, according to a statement by her media aide, Festus Akanbi.

Performance-based incentives are commonplace with revenue-generating agencies in several economies.

She disclosed that a consulting firm has been hired and is working with the NCS to develop and implement a performance-based incentive plan to ensure that there was an alignment of interest between individual customs officers and the objectives of the government.

“Appropriate remuneration of revenue collecting agencies to align the interests of staff with maximising collections is critical to motivate performance and to reduce temptation to compromise,” she said.

She told the senators that such a structure already existed in the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which was working well and needed to be extended to Customs.

The minister also highlighted that, being an import-dependent nation; there is room for improvement in revenue generation from the country’s ports.

She said there was a disconnect between the volume of imports and the recorded revenues from NCS which would be addressed by the new strategy being deployed.

She expressed commitment to the provision of all modern equipment needed to minimise discretion in customs assessments.

Corroborating her position, Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of the NCS, said the authorities are looking into areas of improving the performance of the service through deployment of technology solutions, training, upgrading of the agency’s infrastructure and improved welfare.

Tunde Fowler, executive chairman of the FIRS, said the management of the service had moved the achievement threshold for its performance related pay from 60 per cent to 80 per cent.

The implication of this, according to him, is that staff would only be entitled to benefit from performance incentives if at least 80 per cent of the agency’s revenue target for the year is achieved.