The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) recorded N7.28 trillion in revenue for fiscal year 2025, Comptroller-General Bashir Adeniyi announced yesterday in Abuja.
Adeniyi disclosed the figures during the International Customs Day celebration and official launch of the Time Release Study (TRS), stating that the Service surpassed its N6.58 trillion revenue target by N697 billion a 10 percent overperformance.
The 2025 collection represents a N1.18 trillion increase over 2024’s N6.1 trillion, marking 19 percent year-on-year growth.
Beyond revenue generation, the Customs chief revealed that officers made over 2,500 seizures valued above N59 billion, covering narcotics, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, wildlife products, arms and ammunition, petroleum products, vehicles and substandard consumer goods.
These enforcement actions align with this year’s International Customs Day theme, “Customs Protecting Society Through Vigilance and Commitment,” with officers disrupting criminal supply chains before contraband reached communities, Adeniyi said.
At Apapa Port, Customs discovered 16 containers of prohibited goods worth over N10 billion, including narcotics, expired drugs and concealed firearms. Airport operations intercepted over 1,600 exotic birds trafficked without permits, while land border activities yielded seizures of illicit drugs, counterfeit medicines and ammunition.
“These operations may not make headlines for long, but their impact is enduring—fewer young people exposed to drugs, fewer weapons reaching criminals, and fewer counterfeit medicines harming patients,” the Comptroller-General stated.
He emphasized that revenue growth stemmed from improved compliance, digital tools, enhanced data utilization and disciplined enforcement, rather than imposing additional burdens on legitimate traders.
Adeniyi expressed confidence that the Time Release Study would help reduce Nigeria’s estimated N2 trillion revenue losses, describing it as progress toward evidence-based, data-driven trade reforms. He identified excessive clearance delays as consequences of fragmented scheduling, manual documentation and weak inter-agency coordination.
Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, said the TRS would improve Nigeria’s business environment, strengthen competitiveness under the African Continental Free Trade Area, and advance the federal government’s ease-of-doing-business agenda.
World Customs Organization (WCO) Secretary-General Ian Saunders praised the reforms and committed WCO support, while House Committee Chairman on Customs, Hon. Leke Abejide, called for stronger inter-agency collaboration to minimize clearance delays at ports and borders.
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