Hameed Ali, the comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has blamed the Service’s inability to meet its annual revenue target of N3.1 trillion in 2022 for the high rate of insecurity in the northeastern part of the country.
Ali, who disclosed this to journalists in Abuja, after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Villa on Thursday, said the Service lost over N400 billion to insecurity and bureaucracies in government policies in the year 2022.
He said that the targeted revenue for the Service for 2022 was pegged at N3.1 trillion, but it was only able to generate N2.6 trillion.
“The shortfall of over N400 billion was due to a lot of factors including the fluctuation of the naira, the fiscal policies, and border issues among others. So, if you put all these factors together, and look at the target we were given, you can now come to the conclusion that the sheer amount of money that would have come to the government that is out there,” the CG said.
Read also: ‘More Customs agents will be jobless as volume continues to drop’
Recall that Customs recently announced the annual revenue collection of N1.02 trillion in the Apapa Port, and over N574.3 billion in the Tin-Can Island Port Command, both the highest revenue-generating commands of the service.
During the meeting with Mr President, Kunio Mikuriya, the secretary general of the World Customs Organization, called for more investment in border securities to allow the service to perform its role effectively.
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