Nigeria Customs Service Achieves Unprecedented Success in 2024

Nigeria Customs Service Achieves Unprecedented Success in 2024

By prince Benson Davies

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has recorded a historic year in 2024, with unprecedented growth in revenue collection, trade facilitation, and enforcement activities.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, January 14 2025, in Abuja, the Comptroller General, Bashir Adeniyi said the service has surpassed its revenue target of N5.08 trillion, collecting a remarkable N6.11 trillion, representing a 20.2% increase above the target.¹ This achievement marks a significant milestone for the NCS, demonstrating its commitment to enhancing revenue generation, facilitating legitimate trade, and enforcing customs regulations.

Regarding revenue performance, he noted “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 ₦6,105,315,543,489.50, surpassing our target of ₦5,079,069,866,085.50 by ₦1,026,245,677,404.00, representing a 20.2% increase above the target.

In his words, “This remarkable achievement represents a significant 90.4% increase from our 2023 collection of ₦3,206,583,002,675.65. The growth is historic as it marks the highest Year-on-Year increase recorded by the Service recently, surpassing the 52.24% growth in 2022 by 38.18 percentage points. Additionally, the Service achieved another milestone in October 2024 by recording the highest monthly collection ever of ₦603,171,859,991.97.

Speaking further, He noted that the total revenue collected for 2024 comprises three main parts:

Federation Account Collections. The sum of ₦3,657,063,981,445.42 was collected into the Federation Account, consisting of Import Duty, Excise Duty, Fees, E-Auction proceeds, and CET Levy.

Non-Federation Account Levies. A total of ₦816,902,844,844.73 was collected as Non-Federation Account Levies.
Value Added Tax (VAT). The Service collected ₦1,631,348,717,199.35 as VAT on imports.
On Trade Facilitation, the CG recalled that “At the beginning of 2024, the Service made several commitments towards modernizing our operations and enhancing service delivery. Despite our 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 in 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.

“Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Programme. The pilot phase of the AEO program 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. This represents a remarkable 66.9% reduction in cargo clearance time compared to pre-AEO status, where clearance took 5 days, and notably outperforms regular Economic Operators (EOs) who require 7 days for clearance. Given these impressive results, we are set for full implementation of the program in the first quarter of 2025.
Time Release Study and International Partnerships. 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.
Technological Infrastructure Advancement. In a significant stride towards digital transformation, the Service commenced pilot testing of its indigenously developed customs clearance platform with the support of our 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 ₦31 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.”

“Stakeholder Engagement Initiatives. Under the framework of the global Customs community’s theme focusing on enhancing traditional and new stakeholder engagement in 2024, we intensified our 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.
Support for SMEs and Export Trade Facilitation. In recognition of the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), we implemented various trade facilitation initiatives to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and exporters. These efforts contributed significantly to the robust participation of Nigerian brands at the prestigious Biashara Afrika forum in Kigali in October 2024. It was gratifying that our innovative approaches received recognition from the AfCFTA Secretariat, culminating in an invitation to share Nigeria’s experience at the forum.
On ANTI-SMUGGLING/ENFORCEMENT, the Cusytoms boss revealed that “NCS adapted its strategies to these evolving security challenges resulting in the 3,555 seizures throughout the year, with a dramatic 100.92% increase in the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of seizures from ₦17.56 billion in 2023 to ₦35.29 billion in 2024. These seizures, with a Cost, Insurance, and Freight (CIF) value of ₦28.46 billion and total duty of ₦6.83 billion, highlights the scale of attempted economic sabotage prevented by the Service. The recorded seizures included traditional and emerging risks to Nigeria’s Economic and overall national Security.