Monthly revenue collection by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) surged over 70% to N343 billion between July and August 2023 as Adewale Adeniyi, Acting Comptroller-General of Customs continues to lead extensive reforms targeted at resetting operations at the agency.
Adeniyi expressed optimism about exceeding the year’s NCS N3.6 trillion revenue target as he addressed a press conference to discuss his first 100 days in office since his appointment by President Bola Tinubu in June.
Adeniyi said one of the custom’s early achievements within this period has been a remarkable boost in average monthly driven by improved efficiency, enhanced service delivery, and securing the borders.
Customs revenue monthly collections averaged N202 billion in the first half of the year, indicating about N105 billion shortfall from the N307 billion budgetary target.
“I’m delighted to announce that we’ve consistently exceeded the monthly target collection of N307 billion, marking a remarkable departure from previous performances,” the acting CGC stated.
He further mentioned that ongoing Revenue Recovery review activities have contributed an additional 8 billion Naira in the last two months, underlining the service commitment to revenue generation.
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He said subject to unforeseen circumstances, the aim is to sustain and even expand this momentum until the end of the year.
According to him, this commitment is driven by the Service’s resolve to minimize the deviation from the target, especially in light of the substantial shortfalls recorded during the year’s first half.
“In our first 100 days in office, we embarked on a comprehensive overhaul of the Nigeria Customs Service, guided by our policy thrust,” Adeniyi said.
“We recognized that to effect real change, we needed to incrementally challenge the status quo and instigate a transformation that was both dynamic and results-oriented.
“One of our primary objectives was to optimize revenue collection. We introduced a series of reforms aimed at plugging revenue leakages, streamlining the customs clearance process, and addressing the existing gaps at the time.”
Many see the NCS performance so far as a boost especially considering that Nigeria faces a huge revenue challenge and at slightly over 8 percent has one of the lowest revenue-to-GDP ratios in the world.
The country equally has one of the lowest tax collection rates in the world at approximately 10.8 percent of GDP.
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