Reps Demand Details of ₦34tn Customs Waivers, Query Revenue Discrepancies

The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has directed the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to provide a comprehensive breakdown of the estimated ₦34 trillion import duty waivers granted in 2025, including the beneficiaries, legal basis and purposes of the concessions.

The directive was issued on Tuesday during the appearance of the management of the Nigeria Customs Service before the committee as part of the National Assembly’s ongoing revenue monitoring and oversight exercise.

Chairman of the Committee, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, said lawmakers were not opposed to the government’s waiver policy but had a constitutional duty to ensure that such concessions were granted transparently and in the national interest.

According to him, the Committee wants to know the identities of the beneficiaries and whether the waivers achieved their intended objectives.

“Waiver is good. It is not a bad thing to grant waiver. But we want to know those who benefited from the waiver and the purpose for such waiver,” Faleke said.

He noted that waivers granted on agricultural products, for instance, should ultimately reduce the cost of food and stimulate economic growth.”So, we are not against waiver. But we want to know the beneficiaries of this ₦34 trillion waiver,” he added.

The Committee also queried the Nigeria Customs Service over what it described as inconsistencies in its revenue reporting despite the agency consistently surpassing its annual revenue targets.

Faleke said the financial records presented by Customs failed to adequately explain the sources of the excess revenue generated above approved targets.

“We are not going to applaud your efforts now because your account books are not balanced. We know that you want to be transparent, but you have not told us how the excess money you are reporting came about,” he said.

The lawmaker also demanded a detailed month-by-month explanation of the agency’s revenue performance, alleging that Customs under-declared collections in some months and significantly exceeded projections in others.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Saidu Mohammed Abdullahi, argued that the Federal Government should increase revenue targets for agencies such as the Nigeria Customs Service, noting that the agency’s consistent overperformance showed it could generate more revenue.

“In 2024, you were given a target of ₦5 trillion and you generated ₦6.1 trillion. In 2025, you were given a target of about ₦6 trillion and you generated ₦7.2 trillion. I believe that if we push you enough, you can do better,” he said.

Responding to the concerns, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, represented by the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Kikelomo Adeola, clarified that the Nigeria Customs Service does not approve import duty waivers.

She explained that the Service only implements waivers approved by the Federal Ministry of Finance in line with existing laws and government policies.
On trade facilitation, Adeola advocated the establishment of inland dry ports across the country to ease congestion at seaports and improve cargo clearance.

“I will encourage all state governments to invest in inland dry ports. That will have a lot of impact on our operations,” she said.
She also assured lawmakers that Customs scanners were largely functional, except for a few units undergoing repairs.

However, a member of the Committee, Hon. Ifeanyi Uzokwe, urged the Customs management to sanction officers responsible for operating the scanners whenever negligence results in equipment failure or operational delays.

Meanwhile, the Committee also directed the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to submit comprehensive records of all companies and businesses registered in Nigeria, including details of registration fees paid by each entity.

Lawmakers further queried the Commission over its failure to submit audited financial statements to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) since 2019, as required by law.

The Committee subsequently directed the CAC to reconcile its records with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission without delay.
A representative of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission informed lawmakers that the Corporate Affairs Commission owed the Federal Government ₦13.9 billion in unremitted operating surplus accumulated over several years.

Responding, the Registrar-General of the CAC said the Commission had commenced reconciliation with the FRC and reached an agreement to settle the outstanding liability through quarterly payments of ₦500 million.