NOT less than N1.5billion is generated by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Comptroller-General, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.), has disclosed. Ali stated this on Thursday when he paid a courtesy visit to the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja.
He explained that NCS as presently constituted with limited facilities to carry out its duties, lacks the capacity to generate the needed revenue for the country, adding that the agency will require the assistance of the Nigerian Navy.
He explained that apart from the daily revenue generation, the nation loses billions of naira during most of its numerous public holidays.
He said: “Part of our job on trade certification is dependent on the navy, the more we get the more likely our revenue rises.
“Any day we declare public holiday we lose money, in practical terms the customs, our ports generates about N1 billion to N1.5 billion a day, so any day they say public holiday that is N1.5 billion gone. And Nigerians love holidays, if Christmas falls on Saturday we will say we want to have Monday as holiday but to us it’s a pain because we are now looking at it in terms of raw cash.”
