Senate approves N1.6trn customs’ revenue target

The senate on Wednesday approved a total of N1.67 trillion revenue target for the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) for the 2021 fiscal year.

The approval followed the presentation of a report by Francis Alimikhena, chairman of the senate committee on customs, excise and tariffs.

“Giving a breakdown of the revenue framework, Alimikhena said the committee increased the NCS revenue target from N1.46 trillion to N1.67 trillion,” a statement issued on Wednesday by Ezrel Tabiowo, special assistant to Ahmed Lawan, senate president, read.

“According to the lawmaker, ‘in the 2021 fiscal year, NCS revenue target was pegged at N1.465 trillion comprising of N1.267 trillion for federation account and N197.996 billion for non-federation account, respectively.

“However, the senate committee deemed this target to be inadequate, while taking cognizance of the recently assented Finance Act, 2021.”

Alimikhena explained that factors such as expansion of excisable items, excise duties of carbonated drinks; tariff review on vehicles; re-opening of border; and projected increase on collectible duty of imports informed the upward review of the NCS’s revenue target.

“He added that expected revenue are from seven percent cost of collection for 2021 projected at N111,573,991,091; two per cent VAT share of NCS – N7,500,000,000; sixty per cent share of CISS – N47,007,935,827; and retained earnings for ongoing Projects, 2020 – N91,101,744,776.51,” the statement added.

Senate also approved the sum of N257.18 billion as the budget for the NCS for the 2021 financial year.

Alimikhena said the budget is based on the federal government’s medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) and the Finance Act, 2021.

He said N99.7 billion out of the N257.18 billion would be spent on personnel cost while N19.5 billion and N137.9 billion would be spent on overhead and capital costs, respectively.