Customs seeks to ban vehicles above seven years

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Customs and Excise, has sought the banning of vehicles above seven years.

The lawmakers made this known on Tuesday, as they proposed a revenue target of N1.56 trillion for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in 2021, up from the original N1.4 trillion proposition.

The amount was set for the NCS in 2020 before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic that led to a downward review of the target to N1.3 trillion.

The committee resolved to jack up the figure at a budget defence session held with the Controller-General of the NCS, Col. Hameed Ali (retd.), in Abuja.

Chairman of the committee, Leke Abejide, said the lawmakers would retain the targets on duties and Value Added Tax collection as the Customs was able to surpass the reduced target during the lockdowns while the COVID-19 pandemic was already over.

Mr. Abejide said, “The 2021 proposal that Customs brought to us; we compared notes of what was presented to us in the 2020 fiscal year and what was collected by the service. There was a proposal of N1.4 trillion.

“When we looked at your new proposal and the kind of noise it will generate when we get to the floor of the House, we don’t want to have problems on the floor trying to pass the budget.

“So, when we looked at what you collected in 2020, which was N1.56tn when you add VAT, it will look somehow illogical for us.”