The Nigeria Customs Service on Monday said it surpassed its 2025 revenue target by 10.24 per cent, generating ₦7.28tn between January and December, despite a series of government-approved tax waivers and fiscal incentives aimed at stimulating economic growth.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this while defending the agency’s 2025 budget performance and presenting its 2026 budget proposal before the House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise.
According to him, the Service exceeded its annual revenue target of ₦6.58tn by ₦696bn, attributing the performance to sustained reforms in revenue administration, technology deployment and trade facilitation.
Adeniyi, however, clarified that an error had appeared in the executive summary of the budget document submitted to lawmakers.
The correct revenue generated from January to December 2025 is ₦7.28tn. This represents a positive variance of 10.24 per cent above our annual target of ₦6.58tn,” he said.
The Customs boss said the feat was achieved despite significant revenue losses arising from fiscal policies introduced by the Federal Government to support critical sectors of the economy.
According to him, excise duty on telecommunications services remained suspended throughout 2025, while other revenue measures, including the proposed green tax, were yet to be implemented.
He also listed healthcare waivers, tax concessions on pharmaceutical products, and duty exemptions granted under the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas initiative covering CNG-powered and electric vehicles among measures that reduced Customs earnings.
Import duty exemption certificates, Adeniyi added, accounted for the largest revenue shortfall. “In 2025, a total of about ₦34.53tn worth of imports received various exemptions and waivers,” Adeniyi said, noting that the affected imports included military equipment and other strategic items approved under government intervention programmes.
He further explained that the limited number of products currently subject to excise duty also constrained revenue generation, while geopolitical tensions in the Middle East disrupted global supply chains during the last quarter of 2025, affecting imports of strategic commodities, particularly wheat.
Meanwhile, the NCS recorded a loss of N34.54tn in projected revenue owing to a huge volume of trade covered by Import Duty Exemption Certificates and VAT Order.
According to Adeniyi, “A total of N34.54tn worth of imports, made up of 56.40% petroleum products, 40.52% military imports.”
On expenditure, the Comptroller-General disclosed that although the Service secured an approved budget of ₦1.13tn for the 2025 fiscal year, only ₦808.86bn was available for implementation.
He attributed the shortfall to the transition from the old seven per cent Cost of Collection funding arrangement to the four per cent Free-on-Board Cost of Collection mechanism introduced under the Nigeria Customs Service Act.