The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) yesterday frowned the directive of the Acting Comptroller-General of Customs, John Atte that Customs commands across the country should rev up their revenue generation from N13 billion to N35 billion weekly.
Speaking yesterday after the launching of the association’ s in house journal, ‘Customs Agents Digest’, its National President, Prince Olayiwola Shittu described the directive as a tall order that may not be realistic.
“The directive is a tall order. I won’t call it a wishful thinking because there are so many factors that will affect the realisation which include the inflow of cargo, which is low.
“Foreign exchange is high and there are less people traveling and revenue is a function of import. So if there is low cargo, there will be less revenue so it is a tall order and he has to tell us how to realize that.
“We know how much they make everyday and even all Area Controllers are lamenting about poor revenue so he has to tell us how to achieve it.
“If they identify where the leakages are, we will help him block it so that is why I call it a tall order but we need his direction on how to realise it,” he said.
The ANLCA’s helmsman however commended Atte for disbanding Customs task forces at the ports.
“We need to commend him on the removal of task forces because the task force is a duplication of resident officers and Area Controllers so the removal of the task force is already making trade liberalization easier for us,” he said.
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