By Mercy Aikoye
The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has launched a probe into the approximately ₦34 trillion worth of import duty waivers granted in 2025, directing the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to provide a detailed breakdown of all concessions, including the beneficiaries, legal approvals, and the purposes for which they were granted.
The committee issued the directive on Tuesday during an oversight session with the management of the Nigeria Customs Service as part of the National Assembly’s ongoing revenue monitoring exercise.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, said lawmakers were not opposed to the government’s waiver policy but had a constitutional duty to ensure that tax concessions were granted transparently and delivered the intended economic benefits.
According to him, the committee wants a comprehensive list of all beneficiaries of the waivers and evidence that the concessions achieved their policy objectives.
“Waiver is good. It is not a bad thing to grant waiver. But we want to know those who benefited from the waiver and the purpose for such waiver. It is okay if you grant waiver on medical and agricultural products,” Faleke said.
He explained that waivers granted on agricultural inputs, for instance, should ultimately contribute to lowering food prices and stimulating economic growth, stressing that lawmakers must be satisfied that public revenue sacrificed through the concessions served the national interest.
Beyond the waiver regime, the committee also questioned the Nigeria Customs Service over what it described as inconsistencies in its revenue reporting, despite the agency consistently surpassing its annual revenue targets.
Faleke said the financial records presented by Customs failed to clearly explain the sources of revenue generated above approved targets, insisting that the committee required a month-by-month breakdown to properly assess the agency’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,” he said.
The committee also raised concerns over fluctuations in monthly collections, noting that Customs underperformed in some months while significantly exceeding projections in others without sufficient explanation.
Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Saidu Mohammed Abdullahi, argued that the Federal Government should consider raising revenue targets for agencies such as the Nigeria Customs Service, given their consistent record of outperforming official projections.
He noted that Customs generated ₦6.1 trillion against a ₦5 trillion target in 2024 and reportedly realised about ₦7.2 trillion in 2025 against a target of roughly ₦6 trillion.
Responding to the lawmakers, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, represented by the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Mrs. Kikelomo Adeola, clarified that the Nigeria Customs Service does not approve import duty waivers.
She explained that the approvals are granted by the Federal Ministry of Finance in line with existing laws and government policy, while Customs only implements the directives.
Adeola also advocated greater investment in inland dry ports by state governments, saying the facilities would ease congestion at seaports, speed up cargo clearance and improve trade facilitation across the country.
She assured lawmakers that Customs scanning equipment remained largely operational, with only a few scanners currently undergoing repairs.
However, a member of the committee, Hon. Ifeanyi Uzokwe, urged the Customs management to sanction officers found negligent whenever poor handling contributed to equipment failure or delays in cargo clearance.
The committee also scrutinised the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), directing the agency to submit detailed records of all registered companies and businesses in Nigeria, including the registration fees paid by each entity.
Lawmakers further faulted the commission for failing to submit its audited financial statements to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) since 2019, as required by law, and ordered it to immediately reconcile its records with the commission.
During the session, a representative of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission disclosed that the CAC owed the Federal Government ₦13.9 billion in unremitted operating surplus accumulated over several years.
Responding, the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission said the agency had already begun reconciliation with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and had agreed to liquidate the outstanding liability through quarterly payments of ₦500 million.
