Senate approves N1.678trn revenue target for Nigerian Customs

The Senate in plenary on Wednesday approved a total revenue target of N1.678 trillion for the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) for the fiscal year 2021.

It also approved a total expenditure of N257 billion for the service, including retained earnings for its ongoing projects for the year, as proposed by the Senate Committee on Excise Tax and Tariffs.

The approval followed consideration and adoption of the Senate committee report after Senate Speaker Ahmad Lawan put it to a vote.

Introducing the report, committee chair Senator Francis Alimikhena (APC-Edo) said the NCS had proposed a revenue target of N1.46 trillion.

Alimikhena said the revenue target included N1,267 billion on behalf of the Federation and N197.996 billion for the non-federated account.

He said the committee, however, found the target inadequate, taking into account the recently signed 2021 finance law and the expansion of excise items.

The chairman of the committee listed other excisable products such as soft drinks in addition to the revision of tariffs on vehicles and the reopening of the border, among others.

Alimikhena added that another reason for the increase in the target was the increase in the Central Bank of Nigeria‘s official rate of the Naira against the dollar.

He said, “This means that the duty to be collected on each import will increase in naira only when the rate was N381 to one dollar.

“All of this will dramatically increase the NCS revenue target for the 2021 budget year.

“Taking into account the trend not taken into account in the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF 2020), the committee thus increases the NCS revenue target from N1.46 trillion to N1.678 trillion.”

He said the cost of collection was set at 1.7 per cent, while value-added tax (VAT) was set at 2.2 per cent.

According to him, the proposed expenditure of N257 billion, including retained earnings for ongoing projects for the fiscal year 2021, was approved by the committee.

Before approval, the senses. Bala Ibn’Nala (APC-Kebbi) and Sam Egwu (PDP-Ebonyi)requested clarification on budgeted revenue of N180 million for fumigation and a provision of N2 billion as an incentive for civil servants to retire.