The Nigerian Customs Service has revealed that it has generated a whopping sum of N573,190,265,605.41 revenue between January and May, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The NCS told Senate Committee on Customs on Thursday during an interactive session on revenue generation in Abuja.
NCS Comptroller, Accounts, Sadiq Ibrahim Ismail briefed the Senate Committee, saying that the feat of revenue generation was despite the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the country.
Deputy Comptroller General of Customs (Head Human Resources) Sanusi Abubakar Umar at the interactive session maintained that the Nigeria Customs Service was committed to generating revenue that would augment the 2020 appropriations despite the pandemic.
Earlier, the Chairman of Senate Committee on Customs, Senator Francis Ailimikhena (Edo North) in his remarks said the interaction was part of the panel’s oversight activities.
He said: “Senate will assess the 2020 budget performance of the agency, update on recruitment exercise, number of seized goods, number auctioned and amount realized from the auction if any.”
The Comptroller Accounts, Ismailia, while presenting the budget performance of the agency, said that the agency has so far expended the sum of N300 million in its yet to be concluded recruitment exercise for 3,200 officers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A member of the Committee, Senator Suleiman Kwari (Kaduna North), sought to know how the agency can claim it has spent N400 million for training of its officers in view of the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions.
Ismaila, however, explained that’s why it is true that the no mass training took place during the ongoing lockdown, the amount represented a rollover from January to March 2020.
In his report, the Comptroller Technical Services, Hafiz Kalla, said 28,894 seizures were made by the agency between 2015 and 2020.
Kalla, however, could not give a detailed breakdown of the seizures made to members of the Committee when he was asked to do so.
The Committee expressed disappointment with the seizure report and directed the leader of the delegation, DCG Umar, to inform the Comptroller General of Customs, Hammed Ali, to make further details of the report available to the Committee as soon as possible.
