Customs Blames Poor Revenue On High Rice Import Duties

The Area one Command of
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Port Harcourt has attributed its failure to meet its N79 million revenue target in 2013 to increased import duty on rice.
Spokesman for the Command, Mr. Harry Samuel, disclosed this in Port Harcourt in an interview with newsmen.
He said that the import duty on rice was increased by 100 per cent.
He explained that the import duty hike was meant to discourage rice importation and encourage local production.
The policy is to generate employment and increase the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The spokesman said out of the N79 million revenue target for the command, only N31 million, which represented less than 50 per cent, was realised in 2013.
Samuel attributed the shortfall in the revenue generation to the Federal Government’s policy, saying that the development discouraged rice importers.
He said that the enforcement of import duty on rice was the command’s major source of revenue and that the hike had impacted negatively on revenue generation.
According to him, the increase in import duties on the item has discouraged importers in the country.
He said only few commands in the nation were able to meet their revenue targets in 2013 with the new policy.
Samuel said that the N1.2 trillion revenue target for NCS in 2014 would be shared among the commands and expressed optimism that it would be done before end of February.