The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has dismissed over 2,000 officers for complicity and projected it would need about $3.5 billion to fully automate its operations and limit human interactions at ports and border stations.
Its Comptroller-General, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), disclosed this when he was featured in the media briefing coordinated by the Presidential Media Team in Abuja.
He said the over 2,000 officers and men were dismissed for one form of misconduct and complicity or the other since he took over as the head of the Service.
Ali said the over 2,000 officers and men of the service were dismissed in the last seven years for one form of misconduct and complicity or the other since he became the head of the service.
The Customs chief also disclosed that the Service would realise at least $17.6 billion after the conclusion of the automation of its operations in the next few years.
He said the Service had so far collected and remitted the sum of N2.143 trillion into the federation account.
He said many of those who have been shown the way out were found to be short-changing the Service in its revenue drive, especially on the duties tax that should have been paid to the Federal Government through the service.
The Customs boss also revealed that some importers found to have engaged in sharp practices which had infringed on the activities of the service have either been suspended or prosecuted.
He said he was committed to ensuring excellent services but hopes his successor will maintain the standard.
Ali further said the protracted controversies around the agency to collect the Telecommunication Tariff, which was recently resolved in the NCS favour, would affect its target.
He explained that the projection as at the time the N3.019 target was set was based on the assumption that the Service would start the collection from the beginning of the year.
The suspension of the telecom tariff until recently when it was resolved, he said, would pose a great challenge to meeting the target.
Ali also said that the delay in the collection of carbonated drinks tax may also pose another challenge.
The Service, according to him, only recently commenced the collection of the tax which he noted was also part of the assumption at the time the 2022 target was set.
Ali also projected that Customs would need $3.5 billion to fully automate its operations and limit human interactions at ports and border stations.