The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adeniyi, has disclosed that the Federal Government approved Import Duty Exemption Certificates (IDEC) worth N34 trillion in 2025, warning that the extensive fiscal incentives have significantly reduced the agency’s revenue-generating capacity.
Adeniyi made the disclosure on Monday during an investigative hearing by the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja.
He explained that while the Nigeria Customs Service remains one of the country’s highest revenue-generating agencies, its collections have been affected by government-approved duty waivers and other fiscal policy measures.
According to him, the Import Duty Exemption Certificate policy, introduced in March 2020, has had a major impact on Customs revenue.
“IDEC approvals reached about N34 trillion in 2025. About 60 per cent of the approvals were granted for military hardware procurement, which qualified for duty exemptions due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges,” Adeniyi said.
He added that 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.
Despite the revenue implications, Adeniyi maintained that import duty waivers should not be judged solely by their effect on government earnings, noting that they are designed to achieve broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the Federal Government to strengthen oversight mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of the incentives deliver the intended outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased industrial production and improved access to healthcare.
The Customs boss also revealed that the service generated N4.5 trillion as of June 30, 2026, against its N11.04 trillion revenue target for the year, leaving about N7 trillion to be realised before the end of the fiscal year.
The Senate hearing also highlighted disagreements over the remittance of operating surpluses by government agencies.
The Deputy Director of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Bello Gulmare, alleged that the Nigeria Customs Service owed N8.9 billion in unremitted operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund as of 2019.
Customs officials, however, rejected the allegation, insisting the claim was inaccurate.
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Finance threatened to sanction the heads of several agencies, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, and others, for failing to honour the committee’s invitation.
