The Nigeria Customs Service has revealed that import duty waivers approved under the Federal Government’s Import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) scheme surged to ₦34 trillion in 2025, significantly reducing the agency’s revenue potential despite record collections.
Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this on Monday during an investigative hearing of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja. Adeniyi said while Customs remains one of Nigeria’s biggest revenue earners, government fiscal policies — particularly import duty exemptions — have substantially affected collections.
He identified the IDEC scheme, introduced in March 2020, as a major factor, noting that about 60 per cent of the approved waivers in 2025 covered military hardware imports exempted from duty in response to Nigeria’s security challenges. Other exemptions, he said, applied to imports of compressed natural gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery, manufacturing inputs and food intervention programmes.
Adeniyi argued that the waivers should not be viewed solely as forgone revenue, saying they support critical national priorities, including security, healthcare, industrialisation and economic growth. He, however, called for tighter monitoring to ensure beneficiaries deliver on the objectives of the incentives, such as lowering consumer prices, expanding local manufacturing and improving access to essential healthcare.
The Customs boss also disclosed that the Service generated ₦4.5 trillion between January and 30 June 2026, against an annual revenue target of ₦11.04 trillion. The hearing also exposed disagreements over the remittance of operating surpluses by federal agencies.
The Fiscal Responsibility Commission alleged that Customs owed ₦8.9 billion in unremitted operating surplus dating back to 2019, an allegation the Service rejected.