The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has ordered the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to submit a detailed report on import duty waivers valued at about N34 trillion granted in 2025.
The committee, led by Chairman James Abiodun Faleke, requested a full breakdown of the beneficiaries, legal basis for the approvals, and the purposes for which the waivers were issued.
The directive was issued during an oversight session with Customs management as part of the National Assembly’s revenue monitoring exercise.
Faleke said lawmakers were not against the government’s use of duty waivers as an economic policy tool but insisted that such concessions must be transparent and serve the country’s interests.
He explained that waivers on essential items such as medical supplies and agricultural inputs could support economic growth and help reduce pressure on citizens, but the beneficiaries and impact of the policy must be clearly accounted for.
The committee also questioned discrepancies in Customs’ revenue reports despite the agency’s record of exceeding annual targets.
Faleke said the agency must provide a month-by-month breakdown of its collections and explain how it generated revenue above approved projections before lawmakers could properly assess its performance.
He noted that some periods showed unexpected revenue fluctuations and demanded clarification on the factors responsible.
The committee’s Deputy Chairman, Saidu Mohammed Abdullahi, urged the government to raise revenue targets for Customs and other major revenue agencies, arguing that repeated overperformance showed greater capacity.
He recalled that Customs exceeded its 2024 target of N5 trillion by generating N6.1 trillion, and surpassed its 2025 projection of about N6 trillion with N7.2 trillion in collections.
Responding, the Customs Service clarified that it does not approve import duty waivers but only implements approvals granted by the Federal Ministry of Finance under existing laws and policies.
The Deputy Comptroller-General for Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Kikelomo Adeola, also called for the expansion of inland dry ports to reduce congestion at seaports and improve cargo clearance nationwide.
She said state governments should invest in dry port facilities to support smoother trade operations and decentralise cargo handling.
The committee also examined the operations of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), directing it to provide records of registered businesses and details of registration fees paid.
The lawmakers questioned the commission’s failure to submit audited financial statements to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission since 2019 and ordered immediate reconciliation of its accounts.
The Fiscal Responsibility Commission informed the committee that the CAC owed the federal government N13.9 billion in unremitted operating surplus.
In response, CAC Registrar-General said the commission had begun reconciling its records and agreed to settle the outstanding amount through quarterly payments of N500 million.
