Nigerians were jolted early in the year by a N12 trillion target slammed on the Nigeria Customs Service by the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance.
Smarting from an impressive N5.07 trillion target in 2024 which it surpassed by over 20 per cent, the Service was given N6.5 trillion as its target for 2025.
But during the budget defence session in January, the Joint Committee on Appropriation, in its wisdom raised the figure by almost 100 per cent. The Committee claimed that available data from the budget office indicated a huge potential that a N12 trillion annual target in 2025 was achievable. This position drew criticism from the experts and the organised private sector. Experts have expressed concern that the N12trn target could impact negatively on the trade environment.
The contention is that increased revenue target could lead to higher Customs duties which would increase cost of imported goods, and ultimately stifle business growth and discourage foreign investment. But perhaps, more worrisome is the spiral effect on inflation as prices of goods and services may rise astronomically. Experts insist that the National Assembly should focus on legislations that would encourage trade facilation rather revenue generation. Said an aggrieved Customs broker who spoke on condition of anonymity ‘ surprisingly, no one is talking about improved renumeration or condition of service. Compared to agencies such as NNPC, CBN, FIRS, NIMASA, NPA, Customs officers have very poor condition of service and working environment.
What we want NASS to do is legislate over the poor working conditions of officers and men, he concluded. So far, there has been a grave yard silence from the National Assembly since the push back from the organised private sector following the botched attempt for a N12trn revenue target. Speaking recently while presenting its Q1 score card for 2025, Customs Comptroller General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, made no reference to the N12trn target, insisting that the Service was on the right path to achieving its 2025 revenue figure of N6.5trn. He said as the end of the Q1 2025, the Service had raked in N1.75trn, as against a benchmark of N1.64trn , achieving “ 106.47 per cent of our quarterly projection … our month by month analysis, the CG reveals, is even more encouraging. January’s collection of N647, 880,245, 67 not only surpassed it’s monthly target of N548, 33billion by 18.12 per cent, but also showed a remarkable 65.77 per cent year on year growth