The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has earmarked N1.13 trillion for the 2025 operations of the service to boost revenue generation for the country.

The deputy comptroller-general in charge of finance, administration and technical services, Bello Jibo, made this known on Monday in Abuja.

Mr Jibo spoke at the 2025 budget defence session organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise.

In his presentation, Mr Jibo said N247.1 billion, representing 21.8 per cent of the budget, is for personnel cost.

He said N239.9 billion, which represents 21.1 per cent of the budget, is for overhead cost while N645.4 billion, representing 56.9 per cent, is for capital cost.

The deputy comptroller-general prayed the National Assembly to consider and approve the proposed budget for the smooth operation of the service.

Mr Jibo recalled that the service could generate N6.105 trillion in 2024, despite attendant high revenue grants to duty exemptions, waivers, and concessions.

“This is despite a continuous drop in cargo throughput due to economic stiffness, the effect of currency floatation that results in unfavourable trade volume and the expected revenue inflow.

“In the face of the de-excise of many excisable commodities, leaving only a few: cigarettes, beer, and alcoholic beverages and government policy measures that exempted payments of Customs Duties and import VAT on some essential food commodities in 2024, among others,” he said.

Earlier, the committee chairman, Leke Abejide (ADC-Kogi, decried the low funding of the NCS 2024 budget.

Mr Abejide said that the performance of the service would have been better if it had been properly funded.

The chairman put the personnel cost performance of the budget at 43.5 per cent, overhead cost at 46.3 per cent and capital cost at 45.6 per cent for 2024.

According to him, this is despite the service surpassing the target of N5 trillion to generate N6.1 trillion, an increase of 20.2 per cent in 2024.

“I have gone through your 2024 budget performance and was flabbergasted, astonished, surprised and lack of word to express the level of poor funding of the Nigeria Customs Service. This committee would like to know that despite outperforming your target, yet you could not fund your personnel cost, overhead cost and capital projects, both new and ongoing projects.

“Another shocking revelation is that from January to December in 2024, 60 per cent of the 1 per cent Comprehensive Import Suspension Scheme (CISS), which was part of the revenue source to fund overhead, personnel cost and capital projects, recorded zero revenue.

“It is in the opinion of this honourable committee that you should tell us what went wrong because the purpose of creating one per cent CISS was to take care of service providers,” he said.

(NAN)