NCS says ban on sales of carbonated drinks, affecting revenue generation
By Tom Okpe
Comptroller General of the Nigeria Custom Service, NCS, Adewale Bashir Adeniyi has said ban on sales of carbonated drinks by the National Agency for Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has affected revenue generation of the agency.
Adeniyi told the House of Representatives Committee on Finance revenue, monitoring exercise with all Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, in an interactive sessions, at the National Assembly, Thursday in Abuja.
He said the first mandate of the Nigeria Customs Service is revenue collection, which statutorily, is paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government, reveling that revenue generation is set by the agency on a quarterly basis, adding that; “revenue generation capacity of the agency is hinged on many extraneous factors.”
READ ALSO: Narendra Modi: President Tinubu congratulates Indian..
He informed the House Committee that in 2024 fiscal year, the agency had set a target of N5.079 trillion and a monthly target of N423 billion and N1.369 billion for each quarter.
Speaking further on seizures, he said the agency recorded 468 seizures in the first quarter of the year 2024, which was worth N1.9 trillion.
He said: “Most of the seizures carried out by officers of the agency were mostly on carbonated drinks, the ban on the product is affecting the agency’s revenue generation capacity.”
He also said revenue generation profile of the agency is affected by the volume of cargoes, coming into the nation’s ports.
“Reduction in the volume of cargoes, coming into the nation’s ports have affected our revenue.
“We are looking at the projection for the second quarter of 2024 and we believe that by the end of June 2024, we would ‘ve been able to generate N3 billion,” he said.
On non-inclusion of cost of revenue collection in the document submitted to the House Committee, he said it was deliberate, pointing that, “the Act establishing the agency had empowered it to collect 7% of the total revenue as the cost of collection.”
In his remarks, Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Finance Revenue Rep Seidu Abdullahi, commended the revenue drive and generation capacity of the agency, saying that it had surpassed expectation of the House and revenue authorities.
He however, urged the Comptroller General, to properly look into the issue of granting waivers to importers of goods into the country, insisting that if there must be waivers, it must have reasonable benefits to the nation’s economy.
