Association Okays Customs, FIRS Merger

The Shippers Association
Lagos State, has said that the proposed merger of FIRS and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) would harmonise revenue generation.
The president of the association, Mr Jonathan Nicol, stated this in an interview with The Tide Source
Nicol said that, “FIRS collects tax from human beings, while Customs places tax on goods.”
According to the shipper, if both organisations merge, their jobs would be seamless.
“Both agencies are collecting revenue for government. Customs Service has its Harmonised Customs Code which streamlined the amount to be paid on every consignment.
“The two of them (FIRS and Customs) should come together and work for government to reduce corruption in the system.
“The joint operations by both agencies will checkmate their activities because one will be a spy to another,” The Tide source quotes Nicol as saying.
He said that the merger of NCS and FIRS would reduce the cost of doing business.
The President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Mr Olayiwola Shittu, at its extra-ordinary general meeting recently in Lagos, said “the core mandate of the NCS is not revenue generation but trade facilitation in an increasingly technology-driven world.”
He said that the Act which established the NCS was quite different from that of the FIRS, adding that the Act was needed “to marry the two strange bed-fellows together”.
The ANLCA chief said that what the Federal Ministry of Finance and the FIRS needed to do was to create an environment that would balance the needs of revenue collection and the facilitation of trade.
Shittu said that the NCS needed a close working relationship with the FIRS to boost revenue.
He described Customs as a Para-military organisation, “while the FIRS is just a tax collector”.
“Customs is not a tax collector but a revenue generator,” Shittu said.
He suggested that instead of a merger, the two agencies should create a platform where all revenue accrued to Customs would be seen by FIRS officials.
The National Tax Policy Review Committee constituted by the Federal Government has recommended the merger of the FIRS and the NCS.
The Committee, headed by Prof. Abiola Sanni, was inaugurated on Aug. 10 by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.
The committee recommended that the merger of both agencies would improve administrative efficiency; reduce the cost of revenue collection as well as ensure accountability.
The draft of the reviewed National Tax Policy was presented at the committee’s second stakeholders’ engagement in Abuja in September by the West Africa Tax Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mr Taiwo Oyedele.