To reduce corruption in the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and motivate them for higher performance, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has disclosed that the Federal Government is looking into the remuneration of the Customs Officers with the aiming of improving it. She said this during the National Economic Council retreat in Abuja on 22 March, 2016.
“We look at the Customs and found out that it has one of the lowest salaries at least from their peer group. That is a problem. Here you have a custom officer being paid N50, 000 monthly and you ask him to collect duty of nearly N2 million. So we are working on better remuneration for the Customs” the Adeosun said.
The Nigerian Customs Service has long complained of its poor remuneration being an incentive for the perceived high corruption in the service. The NCS generated total revenues of N903 billion for the government in 2015. But many economic analysts believe the generation could be higher if corruption is reduced within the NCS and if they are better equipped.
Adeosun also disclosed that the government is also looking at improving the equipment in use at the nation’s ports.
“The other issue is the equipment being used by the agency. Their ability to scan containers is very important. Classifications of containers are faulty now because of the kind of equipment they use. Ability to scan a container and know what is in it is limited,” the Minister said.
The good news was not just for the Customs Service as the minister also announced of plans by the government to stimulate the economy, in the next one quarter by pumping N350 billion into the system in form of capital spending.
Explaining that the Federal Government plans using the 2016 budget to fast-track economic diversification, the Minister said efforts have been put in place to ensure that the spending on the capital projects trickles down to all Nigerians.
“We are going to spend money and this will be done in a disciplined manner and in the right places” Adeosun said.
She said the Federal Government has a platform and system of control in place to ensure transparency; saying spending will be controlled.
“We are pumping N350bn into the economy in the next one quarter to help the economy.”
With this huge spending, the Minister said that “Companies that had laid off staff and those that had abandoned projects are going back to sites and the economy will restart.”
“Our priority is engaging Nigerians and resuming our capital projects.”
She urged state governments to take their destinies in their own hands by proactively driving revenue generation; saying now is the time to put in place a robust revenue drive by the states.
“There is need to have a business and commercial approach to revenue generation.”
Stressing the need to invest in data collection, Adeosun stated, “There is need for us to look at data management because nobody can succeed in revenue generation without the data.”
