How Customs Netted N6.105trn Revenue In 2024, Surpassing Target Of N5.079trn By N1.026trn (1)  – Independent Newspaper Nigeria

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), no doubt made improved and impressive giant strides in revenue generation in the year 2024, with the collection of ₦6,105,315,543,489.50.

This figure represented 20.2 percent increase and surpassed the target of ₦5,079,069,866,085.50 set for it by the Federal Government for the 2024 fiscal year by ₦1,026,245,677,404.00.

Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, the Comptroller General of Customs disclosed this in Abuja during a press briefing on the activities of NCS for the year ended 2024.

Apart from the huge revenue generation, the CGC announced other remarkable achievements in trade facilitation, anti-smuggling; capacity development and strategic human resources management.

Others are infrastructure and facility development, Corporate Social Responsibility and stakeholders’ engagement.

Infact, the CGC averred that these achievements were made possible through the Service continuous alignment with the policy objectives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, under the guidance of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Olawale Edun, as well as support of management and the entire staff of Nigeria Customs Service. 

“I wish to express my profound gratitude to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for his support and strategic guidance of the Service. 

“Our appreciation also goes to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Olawale Edun, for his astute supervision and continued support of our initiatives.

“The achievements I have outlined today would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of our officers and men across the country. Their resilience in the face of challenges and commitment to duty have been instrumental to our success. I want to assure all officers that the Service will continue to recognize and reward excellence, as deserving and outstanding officers will be acknowledged through our reward and recognition systems,” the CGC assured.

On revenue generation performance, the Customs boss said: “I am pleased to announce that the Nigeria Customs Service has again recorded another unprecedented performance in revenue collection for the year 2024. The Service collected a total sum of N6,105,315,543,489.50, surpassing our target of N5,079,069,866,085.50 by N1,026,245,677,404.00, representing a 20.2% increase above the target.

“This remarkable achievement represents a significant 90.4% increase from our 2023 collection of N3,206,583,002,675.65. The growth is historic as it marks the highest year-on-year increase recorded by the Service in recent times, surpassing the 52.24% growth recorded in 2022 by 38.18 percentage points.” Additionally, he said that the Service achieved another milestone in October 2024 by recording the highest monthly collection ever of N603,171,859,991.97.

The total revenue collected for 2024, according to him, comprises three main components:

The Federation Account Collections which yielded the sum of N3,657,063,981,445.42, consisting of import duty, excise duty, fees, E-Auction proceeds, and CET Levy.

Also, a total of ₦816,902,844,844.73 was collected as Non-Federation Account Levies, while on Value Added Tax (VAT); the Service collected ₦1,631,348,717,199.35 as VAT on imports.

“It is pertinent to note that these collections were achieved despite significant concessions granted to support various sectors of the economy, totalling ₦1,682,302,648,880.67. These concessions comprised ₦723,000,081,776.68 in import duty waivers, ₦372,649,650,951.72 in other levy concessions, and ₦586,652,916,152.27 in import VAT relief. 

These strategic concessions were granted to stimulate economic growth, support industrial development, and enhance the overall business environment in line with government policy objectives. 

Notably, the 2024 concession value represents a significant reduction from the ₦3,959,868,268,993.18 recorded in 2023. 

This reduction is a direct result of our enhanced monitoring mechanisms and strategic reforms aimed at blocking loopholes and eliminating abuses in the concession granting process, ensuring that only genuine and qualifying enterprises benefit from these incentives.”

On trade facilitation, the CGC said that at the beginning of 2024, the Service made several commitments towards modernizing its operations and enhancing service delivery. 

According to him, despite the impressive revenue performance, “we remained conscious of the need to strike a balance between revenue collection and trade facilitation. This balance was evident in our commitments at the beginning of the year and also served as a milestone for gauging performance throughout 2024. They were further reiterated during the Comptroller-General of Customs Conference held later in the year.

“The trade performance data for 2024 reflects significant growth in trade value despite global economic headwinds. The Service processed imports with a Cost, Insurance, and Freight (CIF) value of ₦60.29 trillion in 2024, representing a remarkable 117.4% increase from ₦27.74 trillion in 2023. This was achieved through 1,262,988 import transactions, handling a total mass of 15.35 billion kilograms. The higher value recorded despite an 8.2% decrease in transaction volume from the previous year’s 1,376,514 transactions indicates a shift towards higher-value goods in our import trade portfolio.

“Our export trade performance was equally impressive, with the total CIF value rising significantly to ₦136.65 trillion in 2024 from ₦42.77 trillion in 2023, marking a 219.5% increase. While the number of export transactions remained relatively stable at 38,199 compared to 38,294 in 2023, we witnessed a substantial increase in export volume, processing 12.35 billion kilograms in 2024 compared to 3.70 billion kilograms in 2023. This 234% increase in export mass, coupled with the higher value, indicates a robust growth in our export trade and suggests increasing competitiveness of Nigerian products in the international market.

“The total trade value handled by the Service in 2024 amounted to ₦196.94 trillion, compared to ₦70.50 trillion in 2023, representing a 179.3% increase. This substantial growth in trade value, achieved with fewer but more valuable transactions, is evident of the increasing sophistication of Nigeria’s international trade and the effectiveness of our trade facilitation measures.

“In line with our pledge to adopt global best practices in trade facilitation, improve operational excellence, and enhance security, I am pleased to report significant progress in implementing these commitments. The Service successfully implemented various measures to enhance operational efficiency through modern procedures enabled by the new NCS Act. Let me highlight some of our key achievements and their impacts:

“Advanced Ruling System. The Advanced Ruling system, launched in early 2024, introduced a pre-arrival classification and valuation mechanism that provides binding decisions to importers before shipment, ensuring predictability in their customs transactions. This system represents a significant shift from post-arrival classifications to pre-arrival decisions, thereby reducing delays and disputes in the clearance process. During its first year of implementation, the system recorded 60 account registrations and received 38 applications for rulings on various aspects including classification, valuation, and other clearance-related concerns. Of these applications, 15 rulings were successfully issued covering transactions worth ₦102,929,244,384 in Duty Paid Value, while 23 applications were rejected due to various factors including insufficient information, incomplete documentation, post-importation requests, unverifiable transaction values, and unclear sales agreements. To enhance participation and understanding of this initiative, we have scheduled a comprehensive stakeholder sensitization program beginning January 15, 2025, in Lagos.”

He disclosed that the pilot Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Programme has demonstrated significant improvements in cargo clearance times, with AEO-certified companies achieving an average release time of 43 hours, which is 5 hours better than the target clearance time of 48 hours.

According to him, this represented a remarkable 66.9% reduction in cargo clearance time compared to pre-AEO status, where clearance took 5 days, and notably outperformed regular Economic Operators (EOs), who require 7 days for clearance, adding that given these impressive results, “we are set for full implementation of the program in the first quarter of 2025.”

“Our comprehensive Time Release Study has been concluded, and the report is currently under review with plans for release before the second quarter of the year. Additionally, our enhanced strategic partnerships with various Customs Administrations worldwide are yielding tangible results through intelligence sharing, leading to major interceptions at our ports. These partnerships have also opened up capacity building opportunities for our officers and laid the groundwork for expanded engagements in the coming months.”

In the area of technological infrastructure advancement, Adeniyi said it is a significant stride towards digital transformation, noting that the Service commenced pilot testing of its indigenously developed customs clearance platform with the support of their concessionaires under the Trade Modernisation Project, named ‘B’Odogwu’, in the fourth quarter of 2024.

“The platform, which represents a major milestone in our digital capabilities, was initially deployed at the PTML command for pilot testing. The early results have been encouraging, with the platform processing transactions resulting in an aggregate revenue collection of N31 billion as of December 2024.

“It is indeed gratifying to see how home-grown solutions are gradually enhancing our operational efficiency and ensuring seamless trade facilitation.”

On stakeholder engagement initiatives, the CGC said under the framework of the global Customs community’s theme, focusing on enhancing traditional and new stakeholder engagement in 2024, the Service intensified engagements with existing stakeholders while forging new partnerships.

“We strengthened collaboration with Partner Government Agencies (PGAs) and expanded our stakeholder base through new partnerships. Notable among these was our collaboration with the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN), which led to the establishment of working relationships aimed at addressing challenges in the clearance of medical goods. This strategic partnership, supported by relevant PGAs in the health sector, aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s policy focus on healthcare accessibility and affordability. The outcomes of these engagements have been encouraging, and we are optimistic that this collaboration will contribute significantly to making medical supplies more affordable for Nigerians through improved clearance processes and reduced administrative bottlenecks.”

Under the support for SMEs and export trade facilitation, he said that in recognition of the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), NCS implemented various trade facilitation initiatives to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and exporters.

These efforts, he noted, contributed significantly to the robust participation of Nigerian brands at the prestigious Biashara Afrika forum in Kigali in October 2024.

“It was particularly gratifying that our innovative approaches received recognition from the AfCFTA Secretariat, culminating in an invitation to share Nigeria’s experience at the forum.

“One of the high points of our trade facilitation initiatives was the significant recognition received both locally and internationally throughout the year. Notable among these was the Service’s remarkable improvement in the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) rankings, where we advanced 33 places to emerge joint top five agencies in trade facilitation to validate our reform initiatives and tangible improvements in our cross-border trade facilitation efforts despite notable security concerns.”

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