Customs Targets N6.58tn Revenue for 2025, Collected N6.11tn in 2024

•National Assembly projects N12trn revenue for Customs in 2025 appropriation bill

James Emejo and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The federal government has set a revenue target of N6.58 trillion for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for 2025.

The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, also disclosed yesterday that it collected an unprecedented N6.11 trillion in 2024, surpassing its N5.08 trillion revenue target for the year by N1.03 trillion, representing 20.2 per cent above the target.

This emerged same day the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance jerked up the revenue projections for NCS from the proposed N6.5trn to N12 trillion in the 2025 appropriation bill.

Addressing journalists at a media briefing to shed light on the service’s activities for 2024, Adeniyi said the remarkable achievement represented 90.4 percent increase compared to N3.21 trillion collected in 2023.

He described the revenue growth as historic as it marked the highest year-on-year increase recorded by the service in recent times, surpassing the 52.24 percent growth recorded in 2022 by 38.18 percent.

Adeniyi also pointed out that the service achieved another milestone in October 2024 when it recorded N603.17 billion as the highest monthly collection in the history of the NCS.

Nonetheless, the CGC said the new revenue target reflected the government’s confidence in customs’ capabilities and the expanding scope of its operations.

He said, “We approach this challenge with determination, building on our achievements in 2024 and leveraging our enhanced capabilities. As we move into 2025, our strategic priorities have been carefully aligned with national economic objectives and the evolving global trading environment.”

Further providing a breakdown of the revenue collection for last year, Adeniyi stated that N3.66 trillion was collected into the Federation Account, consisting of import duty, excise duty, fees, e-auction proceeds, and Common External Tariff (CET) levy.

In addition, N816.90 billion was collected as Non-Federation Account Levies and N1.63 trillion as Value Added Tax (VAT) on imports.

He pointed out that the collections were achieved despite significant concessions granted to support various sectors of the economy, totaling N1.68 trillion.

He said these concessions comprised N723 billion in import duty waivers, N372.65 billion in other levy concessions, and N586.65 billion in import VAT relief.

Adeniyi noted that the strategic concessions were granted to stimulate economic growth, support industrial development, and enhance the overall business environment in line with government policy objectives.

However, he said the 2024 concession value represented a significant reduction from the N3.95 trillion recorded in 2023, adding that the reduction was a direct result of the service’s enhanced monitoring mechanisms and strategic reforms aimed at blocking loopholes and eliminating abuses in the concession granting process, ensuring that only genuine and qualifying enterprises benefitted from these incentives.

Adeniyi further attributed the revenue achievements to its continuous alignment with the policy objectives President Bola Tinubu, under the guidance of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Olawale Edun, as well as the support of management and entire staff of the NCS.

He said the service made several commitments towards modernising its operations and enhancing service delivery.

He said despite its impressive revenue performance, the service remained conscious of the need to strike a balance between revenue collection and trade facilitation, adding that this balance was evident in its commitments at the beginning of the year and served as a milestone for gauging performance throughout 2024.

The CGC pointed out that trade data for 2024 reflected significant growth in trade value despite global economic headwinds, stressing that the service processed imports with a Cost, Insurance, and Freight (CIF) value of N60.29 trillion in 2024, representing a remarkable 117.4 per cent increase from N27.74 trillion in 2023.

He said this was achieved through 1,262,988 import transactions, handling a total mass of 15.35 billion kilograms –noting that the higher value recorded despite an 8.2 per cent decrease in transaction volume from the previous year’s 1,376,514 transactions indicated a shift towards higher-value goods in our import trade portfolio.

He said export trade performance was equally impressive, with the total CIF value rising significantly to N136.65 trillion in 2024 from N42.77 trillion in 2023, marking a 219.5 per cent increase.

He said while the number of export transactions remained relatively stable at 38,199 compared to 38,294 in 2023, the country witnessed a substantial increase in export volume, processing 12.35 billion kilograms in 2024 compared to 3.70 billion kilograms in 2023.

He said the 234 percent increase in export mass, coupled with the higher value, indicated a robust growth in our export trade and suggested increasing competitiveness of Nigerian products in the international market.

According to him, the total trade value handled by the service in the review year amounted to N196.94 trillion, compared to N70.50 trillion in 2023, representing a 179.3 percent increase.

He said, “This substantial growth in trade value, achieved with fewer but more valuable transactions, is evident of the increasing sophistication of Nigeria’s international trade and the effectiveness of our trade facilitation measures.”

On its anti-smuggling operations, Adeniyi stated that the NCS adapted its strategies to the evolving security challenges resulting in 3,555 seizures in 2024 with a dramatic 100.92 percent increase in the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of seizures from N17.56 billion in 2023 to N35.29 billion in 2024.

He said the seizures, with CIF value of N28.46 billion and a total duty of N6.83 billion highlighted the scale of attempted economic sabotage prevented by the service, adding that the recorded seizures included traditional and emerging risks to Nigeria’s economic and overall national security.

Notably, he said there were seizures of arms and ammunition, including 900 arms and 113,472 rounds of ammunition, and the interception of narcotics and other illicit drugs, resulting in 105 seizures across various forms that were aided by the declaration of a state of emergency at our major entry points.

Adeniyi said the service also intercepted unauthorised pharmaceutical products, with 40 seizures including 175,676 pieces and 6,271 cartons of various medicaments valued at N3.04 billion, protecting public health from potentially dangerous counterfeit drugs.

According to him, the service’s enforcement activities also revealed evolving patterns in environmental and wildlife crimes, with 76 seizures of animal/wildlife products valued at N5.93 billion.

He said, “We also maintained vigilance over trade-sensitive goods, as evidenced by the seizure of 183,527 bags of rice. Additionally, significant seizures were made of other restricted items including 3,785 bales of textiles valued at N945.9 million, and various quantities of footwear, beverages, and other consumer goods, protecting local industries and supporting the government’s economic diversification agenda.

“The service also recorded 397 seizures of vehicles valued at N5.64 billion, as we continue to enforce import regulations and protect government revenue.

“The mounting sophistication of smuggling networks also necessitated a corresponding elevation in our enforcement capabilities, leading to enhanced collaboration with national and international partners and the deployment of advanced detection approaches.

“Worthy of note is the launch of operation Whirlwind with the support of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) under the Nigeria Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC Ltd).

“This operation resulted in the seizure of significant quantities of petroleum products totaling 1,716,656 litres from saboteurs diverting petroleum products intended for home use to neighbouring countries. Most significantly, our enforcement activities have yielded 55 arrests of suspects currently under investigation as we continue to dismantle the criminal networks behind these activities.

“This comprehensive approach to enforcement, aligned with both national security objectives and international obligations, positions the NCS as a crucial actor in the nation’s security architecture as we continue to facilitate legitimate trade.”

Adeniyi stressed that to strengthen customs’ enforcement capabilities further, the service is actively expanding its technological infrastructure by integrating geo-spatial technology and other cutting-edge solutions.

He said these technological advancements, coupled with capacity building and enhanced intelligence gathering mechanisms, will significantly boost its surveillance and enforcement operations, adding that the integration of these modern tools with its existing frameworks was a strategic investment in the future of customs enforcement, to ensure that we stay ahead of emerging threats as we continue to facilitate legitimate trade.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance yesterday jerked up the revenue projections for the NCS from the proposed N6.5 trillion to N12 trillion in the 2025 appropriation bill.

The lawmakers also jerked up that of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation ( NDIC ) from N163.3 billion to N180 billion.

The two separate but similar decisions of the joint committee were taken when Chief Executives of the federal government-owned agencies appeared before it for defence of 2024 budget and revenue projections for 2025 fiscal year.

First to make presentation on revenue projections for the 2025 fiscal year was Adeniyi.

The Chairmen of the joint committee, Senators Sani Musa and Hon James Faleke in their separate remarks told the CGC that the 2025 projected revenue should be far above N6.5 trillion.

Musa in particular said N10 trillion should be the minimum revenue generation target for customs in 2025 which was however increased to N12 trillion based on suggestions made to that effect by some other members of the committee.

He said, “Based on the aggregate of opinions expressed by members of this committee, the CGC should aim at generating N12 trillion revenue for Nigeria in 2025 which almost doubles the N6.5 trillion proposed by Customs itself.”

Similar ambitious revenue generation projection was made for the NDIC when its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Bello Hassan, made presentation on defence of 2024 budget and revenue projection for 2025.

The NDIC boss in his presentation, informed the committee that N163.3 billion was projected as revenue generation in 2025 which was described as very low by Musa.