Customs exceed govt revenue target, rake in N602bn

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)may have met and exceeded the 2011 Federal Government's target on revenue collection, as it raked in over N602 billion into the Federation Account, two months before the end of the year.The Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi, who disclosed this in Abuja during the monthly revenue strategy meeting held with customs management and area comptrollers, also said he was working on a personal target of N100 billion.'As of the end of October 2011, the service has generated a total of N602 billion into the Federation Account. By the end of the year, we hope to have generated a bonus revenue of over N100 billion into government coffers,' he declared.The revenue target for 2011 as set by the Federal Government is N596 billion.He observed that before 2011, the average monthly collection was N30 billion, and noted that this however, progressively increased to a monthly average of N50 billion in the first quarter of 2011; before taking a surge towards the end of the second quarter, when the service hit a record-time high of N61.5 billion in July 2011, only to be surpassed by the collection of August 2011, which stood at N76.2 billion.He attributed the feat to the stringent measures he put in place to closely monitor revenue performance and block leakages, noting that the measures included the creation of a System-Audit Unit (SAU) in Abuja, to monitor duty payment in all ports, via the automation of the entire Customs Clearance Procedure.Abdullahi also noted that the automation of excise payment procedures had also greatly helped to block leakages associated with the local manufacturing sector.
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