He said the NRA has set a target to hit one hundred billion Leones revenue collection each week, adding that they have been waiting for the passage of the new Finance Act 2018 to start implementation.

He made this statement during the recent visit to the Customs and Excise Department at Cline Town by the Minister of Finance Jacob Jusu Saffa.

He toured the Customs and Excise facilities at Cline Town and the Queen Elizabeth II Quay, led by the Commissioner of Customs and Excise Department, Sahid Conteh, who explained the functions of the various offices.

Speaking during a briefing before the tour, the Commissioner-General of the National Revenue Authority, Dr. Samuel Jibao, thanked the Finance Minister for his support to the revenue authority.

Dr. Jibao said revenue collection is his target as Commissioner-General, noting that the revenue base has been performing well due to support from the Finance Ministry, but that there is room for improvement.

He said they were have set themselves a target to hit one hundred billion Leones revenue collection each week, adding that they have been waiting for the passage of the new Finance Act 2018 to start implementation.

The NRA Commissioner-General disclosed that last Friday, July 13th, they collected over twenty-seven billion Leones and on Monday, July 16th, revenue collected was over twenty-four billion Leones, which was indicative that staff were doing well in revenue mobilization to support the New Direction agenda.

According to the Minister of Finance, it was his duty to visit the Customs and Excise Department and that his purpose of visit was to understand the process of revenue collection and have further deeper insight into the working environment and conditions of workers.

Saffa said the government has an objective of simplifying the entire clearing and forwarding process, including customs payment, adding that they have plans to have a one stop shop to enable people clear their goods easily.

Minister Saffa remarked that it was frustrating to know that the country did not have a revenue house, adding that such showed no sign of seriousness.

He promised that the new administration would ensure they construct a revenue house outside Freetown in the next two years.

He said government spends huge sum of money to rent offices for the National Revenue Authority, and that a revenue house would end payment of rent for offices.