In a bid to motivate officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service them to raise the level of revenue generation for the government, the federal government has announced plan to increase their remuneration.
This was made known by the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun in a statement by her Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Festus Akanbi, that a review of the constraints currently impacting the performance of the NCS had been undertaken.
“This exercise found that the provision of modern equipment, elimination of inappropriate waivers and remuneration emerged as issues,” she stated.
She said that a consulting firm had been hired and was working with the NCS to develop and implement a performance-based incentive plan to ensure that there was an alignment of interest between individual Customs officers and the objectives of the government.
While at a senate hearing on the review of revenue projections in the 2016 budget in Abuja on Tuesday, Adeosun said that the government was working on the introduction of performance-related pay for the NCS to motivate improved revenue collection and reduce corruption.
She stated that, “This exercise found that the provision of modern equipment, elimination of inappropriate waivers and remuneration emerged as issues,”
“Appropriate remuneration of revenue collecting agencies to align the interests of staff with maximising collections is critical to motivate performance and to reduce the temptation to compromise,” Adeosun said.
Giving credence to the Minister’s comments, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hammed Ali (retd.) said the service is considering ways to improve the output of its officers by deploying technology solutions, training, upgrading of the agency’s infrastructure and improved welfare for the officers and men.