By Abbanobi -Eku Onyeka
Abuja
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, on Monday said the cost of Import Duty Exemption Certificates, (IDEC), approvals on some imported goods and equipment rose to N34 trillion in 2025.
Adeniyi made the declaration during an investigative session with the Senate Committee on Finance, which also grilled heads of revenue-generating agencies on remittances and compliance.
He explained that government policies at different times affect Customs’ revenue-generating capacity, either positively or negatively.
According to him, Customs as a leading revenue agency would have generated far more in past years if not for certain government policies and extraneous factors that inhibited performance.
He specifically identified IDEC approvals, which commenced in March 2020, as one of the major policies affecting revenue collection.
“IDEC approvals reached about ₦34 trillion in 2025. 60% of which, as rightly done by government, related to military hardware procurements which attracted duty exemptions because of Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges,” he told the committee.
Other government-backed waivers, he said, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, and food import intervention programmes.
Adeniyi however noted that fiscal policy should not be viewed solely from a revenue perspective but also in terms of broader economic and social objectives. He urged government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries deliver intended benefits such as lower prices and increased production.
On revenue performance, he said out of the N11.04 trillion projected for 2026, N4.5 trillion had been generated as of June 30, leaving about N7 trillion to meet the annual target.
The committee, chaired by Senator Sani Musa, Niger East, also threatened severe sanctions against heads of NCAA, SMEDAN, ITF, FMC Jabi and others who failed to appear, and directed CAC, FRC and the committee to reconcile outstanding operational surplus liabilities within two weeks.
