Customs monthly revenue drops over dollar scarcity

The expectation of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) revenue filling any gap caused by drop in price of crude oil may have been dashed, as monthly return of the various commands has not recorded impressive returns.

One of the reasons adduced is that importation is low due to scarcity of the dollars.

But government’s aim of appointing a non-customs careerist, Col. Ibrahim Ali (retd), as the Comptroller General to see the sector compete favourably with oil and gas, is yet to yield positive result.

However, the Service has said it was facing similar challenges like other sectors affected by the current recession.

There have been some noticeable reductions in the revenue recorded in the past six months, with July as the worst hit.

It was learnt that postings from: Tin-Can Island Customs Command II, formerly known as Lilypond Command, and the Apapa commands were among those with returns already recorded with minuses in the Abuja headquarters of the NCS.

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For instance, Tin–Can Command has its July revenue standing at N531.8 million compared with N750.6 million in June.

It will be recalled that Apapa Command, had at the end of May 2016 boasted of having posted N2.57 billion return, but that has nose-dived by 30 per cent last month.

The declines were said to have generally spread across three of the Customs four zones with the commands outside Lagos having it worse.

One of the known factors for the development, said a clearing agent is more than 40 per cent hike in charges to importers, a situation that is largely responsible for patronage of the neighbouring ports in Benin Republic by Nigerians.

Another reason is the scarcity of dollars, which has made it difficult for the business community to survive the economic crunch.

Some of the duty posts have been without patronage, leading to 30 to 35 per cent loss of revenue between April and July 2016.

 

 

 

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