By Stephen Ubanna
In spite of the initial fears expressed by Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel, and Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs service, NCS, in meeting the N2.01 trillion revenue target set by the Federal government in 2022, let alone surpassing it, because of he down turn in the world economy orchestrated by the Asian country of China emerged coronavirus, poplar COVID 19, the service appears to have lived up to its expectations.
This is evident going by the revenue generation of the various Customs Commands across the country between January and December, 2022. The Customs Formations could achieve their respective revenue targets and even surpass it because they had cued into the Comptroller General’s policy of improving on the service monthly revenue collections by ‘’ blocking all areas of revenue leakage and ensuring that all unpaid declarations and unutilized Pre-Arrival Assessment Report, PAAR, are traced to their owners and accounted to the government’’.
From Apapa, Area Command, under the close watch of Comptrollers Yusuf Malanta, now appointed an Acting Assistant Comptroller, Information Communications, and Technology, ICT, Modernisation Tincan Island, Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML, Murtala Muhammed International Airport , MMIA, which has Mohammed Gidado, to Port Harcourt Area II, Command, the story is the same: improved revenue collections, which had translated to the service meeting its 2022, N2.01 trillion revenue target and even surpassing it to the admiration of Hajia Zainab Ahmed, minister of Finance Budget and National Planning and President Muhammadu Buhari.
There are many factors that are taking into consideration in calculating Nigerian Customs duty ranging from Free On Board, FOB, Cost Insurance Freight,CIF to surface Duty goods. The FOB, refers to all the cost incurred to bring the goods or items of import to the Nigerian terminal from the port of shipment it is the total ancillary charges and the total value of the goods in dollars. Note that the Proforma invoice which states what the FOB, is what gives, which the Customs Valuation officers an insight of what the duty of the imported goods or items ought to be.
The CIF refers to the Insurance and freight, while the surface duty are based on the kind of item imported. According to a top Customs official the value of the CIF, of the imported goods depends on the HS Code –usually 5%,10%, 20% and so on and so forth, of the CIF value.
The official , further disclosed that there are also an additional 7% Tax levied on the imported goods , meant for port development and 1% surcharge for Comprehensive import Supervision, CISS, 0.5% ECONOMIC Community of west African States, ECOWAS Tax Liberalisation Scheme, ETLS.
TheETLS, is the tax imposed on goods imported from the ECWAS member countries, stressing that the money raised is used to run the Commission‘s Secretariat on a daily basis and for Community Development. This is in addition to the collection of 7.5% Value Added Tax, VAT on CIF, Surface duty, surcharge, CISS and ETLS, for value addition for services rendered. The total amount collected by the service from these source make up the various Customs Formations total revenue collection in monthly or yearly.
Many believe that the President’s approval for the implementation of the 2022 Fiscal Policy Measures made u of Supplementary Potection Measures, SPM, for the Implementation of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff , CET, and Excise duties on Non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages, Cigarettes and Tobacco products as well as Telecommunication services were a big boost to the NCS, total revenue collection . This is in addition to the introduction of Import Adjustment Tax, IAT, list with additional taxes and levy on 172 tariff lines of extant ECOWAS CET.
It was not surprising why the major Customs revenue generating units like Apapa, Tin can Island, PTML and PortHarcourt Area II, Command, Onne, which handle large volume of imports and exports could generate much revenue for the government in the 2022, Fiscal year.
Take for instance the Apapa Command, under the close watch of Compt. Malanta, n, which was said to have generated N1.02 trillion between January 2022 to December 2022 was encouraging.The Customs Comptroller may have seen as an unprecedented feat but industry stakeholders believe that there is nothing spectacular about it because of the continuous devaluation of the naira which had put had put the exchange rate between N700.00 to N730.00 to a US dollar, for much of last year compared to what was between 2007 and 2015, during Jonathan’s Administration.
The Apapa Command, outgoing Customs boss had alluded to the fact that the Command had collected the huge amount for the government which was 16.7% higher than the N870 billion generated in 2021, Fiscal year, despite ‘’ setbacks in the clearance value chain such as fluctuation in the currency exchange rate of the naira to the dollar’’.
Comptroller Auwal Mohammed, Area Controller, PortHarcourt Area II, who gave PTL, one of the major Commands around he Lagos generating much revenue for the government was said to have sustained the efforts. The Customs Comptroller, who has been rumoured would take over from Compt. Malanta , moving to the Customs Headquarters as Acting ACG, was said to have netted he sum of over N242 billion for the government last year. Between 2020 and 2022, the Command monthly and yearly revenue generation had been on the increase due to the Comptroller’s ongoing reforms of the Command.
The reforms, a source told The Value News that the reforms had led to robust stakeholder sensitization ,,strict enforcement of extant laws, increased disposition of officers and men to put national interest above self interest leading to more informed and voluntary compliance.
This is in addition to strategic deployment of officers to strategic posts. It is surprising why the Command had recorded remarkable achievements in the area of trade facilitation, security at the Onne port . Indeed, the Commissioning of the ultra-modern mobile scanner and upgrading of 24 hours close Circuit CTV, Network cameras within and the Government warehouses around the Command premises and the building of security watch towel in the Government warehouse was said to have put to put to close Monitoring the suspected detained and seized Containers deposited at the Warehouse for alleged contravention of Government Fiscal Policy.
Industry stakeholders believe that the best in Comptroller Mohammed as a revenue mobiliser would come out at the Apapa port which handles over 70% of the cargo imports into the country. Many believe that PortHarcourt Area II, couls stabilise on its monthly and yearly revenue collection because the then Deputy Comptroller Ibrahim Mahmood , now a full Comptroller, overseeing the Command exit gate within the period he was there had blocked all loopholes used by fraudulent importers with their agents to fly Containers out of the port in the past that they were forced to fall in line and the right thing by paying the appropriate duties.
The situation at the MMIA Command, where Comptroller Gidado, had improved on what his predecessor had done to improve on the Command monthly revenue collection speaks volume. The Customs Comptroller was said to have ensured that the Courier Companies which are the main source of its revenue Collection pay as at when due without being chased around by the officers. Unconfirmed report said that Courier Companies contribute over 70% of the revenue generated by the Command on a monthly basis, which clearly shows that Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel and Comptroller General, has a foresight in establishing the MMIA, as a Command to compete with other Commands in generating revenue to beef up the Service monthly and yearly revenue generation.
