The current economic crisis in the country has not hampered the ability of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to generate funds for the country. The Agency generated the sum of N95.7 billion in August. The amount represents the highest revenue generated by the agency in the last ten months. The development was made known by the public relation unit of the agency in a post on its website on Tuesday. The post said: “Last month, August 2016, the Service recorded the highest revenue in 10 years despite the Forex difficulty, low imports and general economic downturn. The Service generated N95,760,763,642.04, a feat that points to the efficacy of the Comptroller-General’s policy thrust.”
The statement attributed the robust showing of the agency to the strong position of the Comptroller-General’s on the issues of discipline, integrity and strict adherence to customs codes and clearance procedures is yielding positive results in the areas of suppression of smuggling and revenue collection.
According to the statement, “Col. Hammed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) on assumption of office as the Comptroller-General of Customs August last year arrived with a three prone Presidential Mandate namely:- reform, restructure and raise revenue.
“To achieve these, he drew his policy thrust, which harped, on honesty,integrity and transparency as bases for achieving the mandate. Starting from the Headquarters and then to all customs formations across the country.
“Knowing that reform and restructuring are activities within the Nigeria Customs Service, while raising the much needed revenue requires cooperation and compliance from the part of stakeholders, the CGC embarked on stakeholders visitations to secure their buy into the new way of doing business with the service.
“After one year at the helm of affairs, the NCS, revenue generation profile has continued to be on the rise.
“Last month, August 2016, the service recorded the highest revenue in 10 years despite the forex difficulty, low imports and general economic downturn. The service generated N95,760,763,642.04, a feat that points to the efficacy of the CG’s policy thrust.
“The strong stance of the CG on issues of discipline, integrity and strict adherence to customs codes and clearance procedures is yielding positive results in the areas of suppression of smuggling and revenue collection.”