From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adeniyi, yesterday disclosed that the value of Import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) approvals granted by the Federal Government rose to N34 trillion in 2025, significantly impacting the agency’s revenue generation.
This is as the Senate Committee on Finance threatened to invoke sanctions against the heads of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Jabi and other agencies for failing to honour the committee’s invitation.
Adeniyi made the disclosure during an investigative session of the committee with revenue-generating agencies at the National Assembly.
The Customs boss informed the committee that government policies have continued to affect the service’s revenue performance, noting that while the NCS remains one of the country’s highest revenue-generating agencies, it could have generated much more but for fiscal policies granting duty exemptions on critical imports. “IDEC approvals reached about N34 trillion in 2025. About 60 per cent of the approvals were for military hardware procurements, which rightly attracted duty exemptions because of Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
“Other government-backed waivers covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.”
Adeniyi, however, argued that duty waivers should not be viewed only from the perspective of revenue losses. “Fiscal policy should not be viewed solely from the perspective of revenue generation but also in terms of achieving broader economic and social objectives.”
He, however, recommended stronger oversight of the waiver regime, saying, “Government should establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to assess whether beneficiaries of duty waivers are delivering the intended economic benefits, such as lower prices, increased production and improved healthcare access.”
Giving an update on Customs’ 2026 revenue performance, Adeniyi disclosed that the Service had generated N4.5 trillion as of June 30 out of its N11.04 trillion target for the year, leaving about N7 trillion to be realised in the second half of the fiscal year.
The hearing also witnessed a disagreement between the Nigeria Customs Service and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) over alleged non-remittance of operating surplus into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
Representing the FRC, Deputy Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Bello Gulmare, alleged that Customs had an outstanding liability of N8.9 billion dating back to 2019, a claim the Service rejected. A similar allegation was made against the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), with the FRC claiming the commission failed to remit N13.9 billion in operating surplus between 2023 and 2025.
However, Registrar-General of the CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, told the committee that the outstanding amount was being offset gradually.
Chairman of the committee, Sani Musa, directed the CAC, the FRC and the committee’s secretariat to reconcile their records and submit a report within two weeks. “The detailed report on the outcome of the planned meeting should be ready within the next two weeks for another interface with the Corporate Affairs Commission.”
The committee chairman also warned agencies that failed to appear before the panel to do so at the next sitting or face sanctions.
“Heads of agencies like NCAA, ITF, SMEDAN, FMC Jabi and others who failed to physically attend today’s session should unfailingly make themselves available at the next sitting or risk severe sanctions through the invocation of the relevant sections of our rules,” Musa warned.
(The Sun)