The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) announced on Wednesday it realized over N1.5 trillion revenue from its operations in 2020.
The revenue haul despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic exceeded the Service’s revenue target of N1.38 trillion from the year by about N120billion.
The Customs’ spokesperson, Joseph Attah, who disclosed this in Abuja while reviewing the activities of the NCS said the amount was also more than about N1.34trillion raised in the preceding year of 2019.
Mr Attah said the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, a retired colonel of the Nigerian Army, attributed the achievement of the Service to the willingness of its personnel to adapt to the new normal as a result of the global health challenges posed by COVID-19.
The spokesperson quoted Mr Ali as saying the Service’s revenue generation maintained a rising trend annually as the ongoing reforms in the service focused on the strategic deployment of officers strictly using the standard operating procedures.
He said the NCS management has always insisted on strict enforcement of extant guidelines by the tariff and trade department, apart from the automation of the Customs processes, which eliminated vices associated with the manual process.
He also attributed the success story to robust stakeholder sensitization which led to more informed and voluntary compliance and the patriotism of its personnel.
Prior to the border drill exercise on August 20, 2019, Mr Attah said revenue realized by the Service was between N4 billion and N5 billion Naira, compared to between N5 billion and N9 billion generated daily under Mr Alli.
