The Federal Government has set a revenue target of N6.58 trillion for the Nigeria Customs Service in 2025.
This was disclosed by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, on Tuesday.
Adeniyi also revealed that the NCS collected a record N6.11 trillion in 2024, exceeding its N5.08 trillion revenue target by N1.03 trillion, which is a 20.2 per cent increase over the target.
This development came on the same day the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance increased the revenue projections for the NCS from the proposed N6.5 trillion to N12 trillion in the 2025 appropriation bill.
Speaking at a media briefing to outline the service’s activities for 2024, Adeniyi explained that the impressive N6.11 trillion collection represented a 90.4 percent increase compared to the N3.21 trillion collected in 2023.
He described the revenue growth as historic, noting that it marked the highest year-on-year increase the service had seen in recent times, surpassing the 52.24 percent growth recorded in 2022 by 38.18 percent.
He also highlighted another milestone achieved by the service in October 2024, when it recorded N603.17 billion, the highest monthly collection in the history of the NCS.
The CGC stated that the new revenue target reflected the government’s confidence in the Customs Service’s 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 breaking down the revenue collection for last year, Adeniyi stated that N3.66 trillion was collected into the Federation Account, comprising import duty, excise duty, fees, e-auction proceeds, and the Common External Tariff (CET) levy.
Additionally, N816.90 billion was collected as Non-Federation Account Levies, and N1.63 trillion was collected as Value Added Tax on imports.
He noted that these collections were achieved despite significant concessions totaling N1.68 trillion granted to support various sectors of the economy.
These concessions included N723 billion in import duty waivers, N372.65 billion in other levy concessions, and N586.65 billion in import VAT relief.
Adeniyi explained that the strategic concessions were granted to stimulate economic growth, support industrial development, and improve the overall business environment in line with government policy objectives.
However, he pointed out that the 2024 concession value marked a significant reduction from the N3.95 trillion recorded in 2023. He attributed this decrease to the service’s enhanced monitoring mechanisms and strategic reforms designed to close loopholes and eliminate abuses in the concession granting process, ensuring that only genuine and qualifying enterprises benefited from these incentives.
Adeniyi further credited the revenue achievements to the NCS’s continued alignment with the policy objectives set by 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 the management and staff of the NCS.
He also highlighted that the service had made several commitments towards modernizing its operations and enhancing service delivery.
