By Kelechi David
The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday has approved $1.5bn and €995m external loans for the the President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government.
The decision was taken after lawmakers considered the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts on the external borrowing plan of the Federal Government after the Chairman of the Committee, Clifford Ordia, presented the report of his panel.
The Senate also approved the sum of N257,183,671,694.71 as budget for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for the 2021 financial year.
The approval followed the consideration of a report by the Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Francis Alimikhena, APC, Edo North, in his presentation, said out of the amount budgeted for the Customs in the 2021 financial year, the sum of N99,719,722,681.71 is for Personnel Cost; N19,530,769,000.00 for Overhead; and N137,933,180,013.00 for Capital Cost.
Giving a breakdown of the revenue framework, Alimikhena said that the Committee increased the NCS revenue target from N1,465,345,719,428.00 (one trillion, four hundred and sixty-five billion, three hundred and forty-five million, seven hundred and nineteen thousand, four hundred and twenty-eight naira) to N1,678,715,061,014.00 (one trillion, six hundred and seventy-eight billion, seven hundred and fifteen million, sixty-one thousand and fourteen naira).
According to the lawmaker, “in the 2021 fiscal year, NCS revenue target was pegged at N1.465 trillion comprising of N1.267 trillion for Federation Account and N197.996 billion for Non-Federation Account. However, the Senate Committee deemed this target to be inadequate, while taking cognizance of the recently assented Finance Act, 2021.”
He explained that other factors such as expansion of excisable items, excise duties of carbonated drinks; tariff review on vehicles; re-opening of border; and projected increase on collectible duty of imports informed the upward review of revenue target for the NCS.
He added that expected revenue are from seven percent cost of collection for 2021 projected at N111,573,991,091; two percent VAT share of NCS – N7,500,000,000; sixty percent share of CISS – N47,007,935,827; and Retained Earnings for Ongoing Projects, 2020 – N91,101,744,776.51.
