Freight forwarders mock Customs’ proposed N1trn revenue target.

Customs agents have derided Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) over its revenue target. They said that the stringent government policy, smuggling, under-declaration and corruption, would cripple the target.
 
Since 2009, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has not been meeting its revenue target at the ports and borders. The only time it surpassed its mark was in 2011, when it generated N741.8 billion as against the N607 billion target for that year.
Revenue failure Data by the service’s annual report in 2014 revealed that in 2009, N513 billion was generated instead of N650 billion; 2010, N546.6billion as against N661billion; 2012, N850.8 was collected in opposition to N872.2billion; 2013, it collected N833.3 billion instead of N1.07trillion, 2014, N977 billion was generated out of the N1.25 trillion proposed and it generated N903 billion out of its N954 billion revenue target in 2015.
Reasons for the crash Smuggling, unfavourable import policies, high tariffs, undervaluation, under declaration and other sharp practices have been linked to revenue short fall in the past. New target Last week, the Comptroller- General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), said that the NCS had set N1 trillion revenue target for 2016. He assured that the service would block revenue loopholes to achieve its target.
Also, he said that the service would deploy Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS), Nigeria Trade Hub and the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) to boost revenue collection. Although he noted that the service had not received the 2016 revenue target from the budget office, it has, however, set the N1 trillion target for the year.
“We are looking at N1 trillion for 2016. We are working to block all leakages and making sure that our system works perfectly and hopefully, the policies of government will also be in our favour. “We hope to hit N1 trillion in 2016. The deployment of ecustoms has boosted customs’ role of providing connectivity between nations divided by artificial borders.
“Collection of revenue and interception of harmful imports have been made easier with the help of technology. In line with the change mantra of the present government, let me remind all operatives and stakeholders alike not to abuse the process and corrupt the system. “Any act calculated to distort and compromise the integrity of e-customs will not be tolerated and will be met with appropriate sanctions.”
The Nigeria Customs Service was billed to pay an official visit to the CBN to enlighten the apex bank on some of the dangers and pitfalls inherent in its warped forex restriction policies. But the customs brokers, under the umbrella of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), said that the service would not meet the target as forecast because of the prevailing economic policies that have stifled importation.
They said that 70 per cent of importers had refused to import because of unfavourable government policy. Uncertainty According to the Publicity Secretary of the association, Dr Kayode Farinto, Federal Government’s economic policies have put many Nigerian importers out of business, a development, which would affect revenue generation from the sector.
Challenge Farinto said that the foreign exchange restriction was the major headache of the importers. He noted that many of them were currently waiting to know the direction of government before deciding on the next move. He said that importers had folded their hands as far as importation was concerned because they do not understand the direction of the present government.
According to him, about 70 per cent of importers are not importing because of the hard economic conditions imposed by government. He accused the Federal Government of not giving a sense of direction, adding that the only thing known to many is that government is fighting corruption.
Also, the founder of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, said that the NSC should not lay emphasis on revenue but should focus more on trade facilitation. Focus He explained that the annual high revenue targets set by the Customs had affected its service delivery.
Aniebonam said: “We have said severally it is not a do or die affair. It is dependent on cargo throughput and cargo traffic, rate of duty applicable and the value of the consignment. “If you go outside this country to import cargo and you make genuine declaration for customs, the duty will come out on its own.
“The idea of setting revenue target is part of the problem of international trade in Nigeria; it is one of the major reasons why things are not working well in the port.” He stressed that the customs should rather enforce compliance, saying that the major factor that affected the revenue last year was smuggling, false declaration, under-valuation and concealment.
“It is not all about foreign exchange, the issue of smuggling also comes in, when you smuggle goods into Nigeria, definitely government has lost revenue. “So, meeting the targets is not important, what is important is the compliance level by all operators, all they need to do is increase supervision and enforcement level