– Collects over N4 trillion
– Could surpass target
– N569bn collected in July
Vincent Toritseju
Lagos — Following the renewed impetus infused into the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service by its current Comptroller General, Mr. Adewale Adeniyi, the agency in the last nine months of the year 2024, collected a total of N4.067trillion surpassing 2023 collection of N3.807trillion by over N287billion, indicating an increase of 107.56 percent.
Recall the Customs service was given a target of N5.079trillion for 2024 fiscal year, the revenue result is an indication that the agency may likely surpassed its target for the year.
Records of the collection obtained by Vanguard showed that the month of September 2024 recorded a revenue collection of N423.2billion as against N320.9billion in 2023, showing an increase of 75.8 percent.
The records also showed that the agency has an outstanding collection N981.958billion to meet its target for 2024.
A breakdown of the revenue collection also showed that in January of 2023, the agency collected N199.8billion as against N390.8billion in 2024 representing an increase of 92.34 percent.
While the February revenue collection recorded a total of N450.2billion in 2024, 2023 collection for the month under review was put at N88.6billion, also representing an increase of 106.37percent. N506.6billion was collected for March in 2024 while the collection in the same of 2023 recorded a drop as N217.6billion was collected which showed an increase of 119.71 percent.
In April 2024 and 2023, N459.2 and N172.1billion was collected respectively for the period under review indicating an increase of 108.51 percent. While the month of May of 2024 saw a collection of N459billion as against N214.7billion of the same in 2023, showing an increase of 108.45 percent.
There was an increase of 109.78 in the revenue collected in the month of June as N464.6billion was collected in 2024, N234billion was collected in 2023. While the month of July 2024 recorded the highest collection of N569billion, N314.1billion was collected in the same month of 2023.
A further breakdown of the figures also showed that in the month of August of 2023, a total of N372.1billion was collected while N475.5billion was also collected for the same month of 2024 representing a 112.36percent increase in the revenue collected.
For the month of September that is yet to end, N320.9billion has been collected so far for the year 2024 while N275.3 was collected in 2023.
The records also indicated that while the Service has collected a total of N4.097trillion out of its N5.79trillion 2024 target, the agency has an outstanding of N981.9billion to hit its 2024 revenue target. A feat the leadership o the Nigeria Customs Service has said it pledged to surpass.
Reacting to the development, the President of National Council of Managing Director of Licensed Customs Agents, NCMDLCA, Mr. Lucky Amiwero said that the high exchange rate of the Dollar to the Naira is the major factor of high revenue collection by the Customs Service.
He also said that the issue is not about revenue collection despite the drop in cargo throughput, it is about growing Nigerian businesses.
He explained that a lot of businesses are closing shops because of the high exchange rate because a lot of them cannot access Forex to continue their businesses adding the government should look beyond the revenue it is making and focus on how Nigerian businesses can survive the harsh economic environment.
