The Senate has said it would increase the revenue target of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in the second half of the year.

Senator representing Kogi East and Chairman, SenateCommittee on Customs, Isah Jibrin, dropped the hint at an interactive session between his committee and the NCS team led by itsComptroller General, Adewale Adeniyi.

Checks revealed that the NCS revenue target in the 2024 budget stands at N5.079 trillion.

Senator Jibrin maintained that all hands must be on deck to save the country from borrowing through an increase in internally generated revenue.

First of all, Nigeria is saddled with a lot of debt obligations, and we need to wriggle ourselves out of that trap, and one of the ways to do that is through internally generated revenue.

:Customs is one of the major providers of internally generated revenue, and as it is today, we expect them to play one of the major roles in this drive to reduce our debt burden.

We need to pay off what we owe now and minimise the additional loans we are going to take. Customs is in a very good position; if they are able to block all perceived leakages, they should be able to generate a significant amount of income that will enable Nigeria to get out of debt, at least partially, he said.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs, however, justified the grant of waivers to players in certain critical sectors, such as agriculture and mining.

If somebody is bringing agricultural equipment into the economy and you try to take something out of that person in the way of import duty, that will discourage the person, and that is what we are saying. It is not that anybody took that money or compromised customs in the course of their services.

Concessions were in the interest of Nigeria to encourage importers who were going into specific areas of the economy. There is a trade-off here between importers and the country, particularly the things you think you are generating, he added.

Aside from mandating the federal government revenue agency to increase its revenue target, the Senate Committee equally revealed that the NCS might be compelled to increase its employment benchmark from the present 1,600, as it noted that the rate of unemployment in Nigeria is very high.

Customs is not the only employer of Labour. They can only employ the number they believe they can adequately take care of, and we are putting them under pressure to exceed the 1,600 benchmark.

We may not get beyond 2000, but for sure, we will get 1,6000, and as we all know, there are so many unemployed Nigerians out there. I will always say that it is difficult for the Nigeria Customs Service to absorb all unemployed Nigerians, but they can only employ those they can, he added.

In his presentation, the NCS Comptroller, Mr Adeniyi, disclosed that the revenue-generating agency is seeking approval from the government to allow it to give waivers to owners of smuggled cars to allow them to regularise their payment of customs duties.

He said the approval, if given, would give a window to those in possession of vehicles that were illegally imported into the country or that have not paid duties the opportunity to go to Customs House for assessment and payment of duties.

This, he said, will be done after adequate publicity so that those who find themselves in such a situation can get their vehicles regularised through the payment of duties.

Adeniyi, however, expressed concern over the volatility of the foreign exchange rate. (Nigerian Tribune)