WASHINGTON: The Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Retired Col. Hameed Ali, says the service has proposed N900 billion as revenue target for 2017. Ali told newsmen on the sidelines of the International Customs Day celebration with the theme “Data Analysis for Effective Border Management” at Customs Staff College, Gwagwalada, on Thursday in Abuja. He said the target was self-proposed, adding that the service had not been given revenue target by the Federal Government for 2017. “We have not been given any target yet but we are working between N700 and N900 billion. We will get the final figure when budget is finalised.” The customs boss said that the service had a revenue target of N937 billion in 2016 but was able to achieve N898 billion “so we were a little bit short. “But if you appreciate the trading volume, you will know that NCS did extremely well.”
Commenting on the ban on importation of cars through land borders, Ali said that the service had so far achieved a lot, adding that “I think it is coming up well. “We are just 26 days into the ban; it will always take time to really get the message down to stakeholders but the actual fact is that we want to boost the economy of this great nation. “We want to bring back monies taken out of our country and tighten the security of this nation. “We discovered that through the importation of cars through land borders, arms and ammunition were squeezed and smuggled into the country. “We cannot allow this to continue; apart from the economic aspect of it, security is fundamental in what we are doing.” Ali said that the NCS was joining its global customs community to bring to national discourse, the crucial importance of data as key element in customs modernisation. He said automated customs process was fast turning the service into dependable data-bank for national planning. He explained that apart from providing platform for synergy among security agencies in the country, the data generated and analysed from NCS ICT platform would also help to measure performance and improve practice and integrity of the process.
The Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS) reporting module and the Integrated Reporting Information System (IRIS) enables the service and other security and regulatory agencies to generate reports which will help in decisions regarding trade and fiscal policies, he said. He stressed that “NCS is aware of the importance of data analysis to its operations.” Mr Ibrahim Magu, the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), commended the efforts of the NCS boss in the fight against corruption. Magu said “I believe in his (Ali) anti corruption way of life and anti corruption strategy. “I am always encouraged by his desire to fight corruption and continue fighting corruption. Corruption is one thing we cannot fight alone, we try to encourage everybody who fights corruption and we need all the support. “I don’t care what strategy you use, I just want result and make sure you fight corruption. “We can do it together; every Nigerian must fight corruption because it is the mother of all crimes.”
