The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has directed the Nigeria Customs Service to provide a comprehensive breakdown of the approximately ₦34tn worth of import duty waivers granted in 2025.

The Green Chamber also demanded details of the beneficiaries, the legal basis for the approvals and the economic objectives they were intended to achieve.

The directive was issued on Wednesday when the management of the Nigeria Customs Service appeared before the committee as part of the National Assembly’s ongoing oversight of revenue-generating agencies and the implementation of the 2025 budget.

Chairman of the committee and member representing Ikeja Federal Constituency, Lagos State, James Faleke, said lawmakers were not opposed to the Federal Government’s policy of granting import duty waivers but insisted the process must be transparent and subject to legislative scrutiny.

According to him, the committee wants to establish whether the concessions achieved their intended economic benefits and whether due process was followed in granting them.

Faleke said, “Waiver is good. It is not a bad thing to grant a waiver. But we want to know those who benefited from the waiver and the purpose of such a waiver. It is okay if you grant a waiver on medical and agricultural products.

“If you grant a waiver, it is aimed at helping the economy to grow. For example, if you grant a waiver on agricultural products, it is aimed at reducing the cost of food. So, we are not against the waiver. But we want to know the beneficiaries of this ₦34tn waiver.”

Import duty waivers are fiscal incentives granted by the Federal Government to exempt certain imports from customs duties, often to support strategic sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing and infrastructure. While successive administrations have defended the policy as an economic stimulus, critics have repeatedly raised concerns over transparency, abuse and its impact on government revenue.

The committee also queried the Nigeria Customs Service over what it described as inconsistencies in its revenue reporting despite the agency consistently surpassing its annual collection targets.

Faleke acknowledged Customs’ impressive revenue performance but said the financial documents submitted to the committee did not adequately explain how the agency generated revenue above approved projections.

He said lawmakers required a detailed month-by-month breakdown to properly assess the service’s performance.

“We are not going to applaud your efforts now because your account books are not balanced. We know that you want to be transparent, but you have not told us how the excess money you are reporting came about.

“I can see that in some months, you under-declare your revenue collection and in other months, you overshoot the collection. We want to know what is responsible for this. You have to provide these little details that will help us properly assess your performance,” he said.

The Deputy Chairman of the committee, Saidu Abdullahi, urged the Federal Government to review upward the revenue targets assigned to Customs, saying the agency had consistently demonstrated greater revenue-generating capacity.

“I believe that they can do more than the target we give to them.

“I think we are not pushing them enough. That is why they will always come up with excesses. In 2024, you were given a target of ₦5tn, and you generated ₦6.1tn. In 2025, you were given a target of about ₦6tn and you generated ₦7.2tn. I believe that if we push you enough, you can do better,” he said.

Responding on behalf of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Kikelomo Adeola, clarified that the Nigeria Customs Service does not approve import duty waivers.

She explained that waivers are approved by the Federal Ministry of Finance in line with existing laws and government policy, while Customs is responsible only for implementing the approvals.

On trade facilitation, Adeola urged state governments to invest in inland dry ports, describing them as critical infrastructure capable of decongesting the nation’s seaports and accelerating cargo clearance.

“I will encourage all state governments to invest in inland dry ports. That will have a lot of impact on our operations. Any cargo that is marked for such an inland port will not be delayed at the main port.

“The container will be transported directly to the inland port, where it will be examined. That will reduce the pressure at the nation’s ports and increase trade facilitation in the states,” she said.

She also assured lawmakers that most cargo scanners at the ports were operational, noting that only a few units were currently undergoing repairs.

A member of the committee, Ifeanyi Uzokwe, called for stricter accountability within the service, urging Customs to sanction officers whose negligence contributes to equipment failure or delays in cargo clearance.

Meanwhile, the committee also scrutinised the operations of the Corporate Affairs Commission, directing it to submit comprehensive records of all companies and businesses registered in Nigeria, including details of registration fees paid by each entity.

Lawmakers further faulted the commission for failing to submit its audited financial statements to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission since 2019, contrary to statutory requirements, and directed it to immediately reconcile its accounts with the commission.

A representative of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission told the committee that the CAC owed the Federal Government ₦13.9bn in unremitted operating surplus accumulated over several years.

Responding, the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission, Hussaini Magaji, disclosed that reconciliation with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission was already underway and that both agencies had agreed on a repayment plan under which the outstanding liability would be settled through quarterly payments of ₦500m. (The PUNCH)

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