Customs Beats 2025 Target by 10.24%, Rakes in N7.27tn

The Nigeria Customs Service announced yesterday that it raked in N7.277 trillion for 2025, beating its N6.584 trillion target by 10.24%. The Service also presented its proposed N11.274 trillion budget for 2026 to the House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise. 
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‎Comptroller-General Bashir Adewale Adeniyi made the announcement while defending the budget before the committee in Abuja.
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‎Speaking at the session, Chairman of the House Committee on Customs and Excise, Rep. Leke Abejide, said the exercise was in fulfilment of the National Assembly’s constitutional responsibility to scrutinise the agency’s budget estimates.
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‎Presenting the executive summary, Adeniyi attributed the strong revenue performance to improved operational efficiency despite several government fiscal incentives that reduced customs earnings.
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‎He explained that while Customs collected N7.277 trillion between January and December 2025, several government policies including duty waivers on healthcare products, compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, electric vehicles, and import duty exemption certificates had significant revenue implications.
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‎According to him, the suspension of excise duties on telecommunications services and the continued implementation of various tax relief measures also affected collections.
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‎He further disclosed that Customs received only N808.86 billion, representing about 71.4 per cent of its approved N1.132 trillion expenditure budget for 2025 due to delays in implementing the funding framework introduced under the Nigeria Customs Service Act.
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‎The Customs boss explained that the agency relied on the old seven per cent cost-of-collection model until August 2025 before transitioning to the new four per cent Free-on-Board (FOB) funding mechanism.
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‎“The variance between what was approved and what we received resulted from the delayed implementation of the new funding structure,” he said.
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‎According to Vanguard, looking ahead, the Customs Service projected a revenue target of N11.274 trillion for 2026.Adeniyi said the projection comprises N5.542 trillion from federation accounts, N1.495 trillion from non-federation revenue, N2.973 trillion from import Value Added Tax (VAT), and N1.264 trillion from the four per cent FOB collection.
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‎The Comptroller-General appealed to lawmakers to approve the budget, expressing confidence that the proposed funding would strengthen Customs’ capacity to improve revenue generation, facilitate legitimate trade and support Nigeria’s economic growth.
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