The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has called for a review of import duty concessions estimated at ₦1.68tn in 2024, as it pursues its ₦11.07tn revenue target for 2026 without disrupting legitimate trade.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, said the service would rely on compliance, data-driven operations and trade facilitation rather than harassing importers and traders to meet its revenue goal.
Adeniyi spoke on Tuesday while delivering the third Distinguished Personality Lecture organised by the TETFUND Centre of Excellence in Security Management at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Speaking on the theme, Why Customs Matters: Revenue, Security and Nationhood in a Borderless World, he argued that revenue collection should not undermine the movement of legitimate goods.
He said the service would prioritise voluntary compliance and efficient trade procedures, warning that meeting revenue targets by choking commercial activities would be counterproductive.
Adeniyi also called for a review of Nigeria’s import waiver regime, which he said was worth about ₦1.68tn in 2024. He noted that he had advocated a review of the concessions alongside the Customs Act.
The Customs chief said revenue from international trade remained important to developing economies, particularly those with large informal sectors that made income tax collection difficult.
He cited figures showing that Africa’s average tax-to-gross domestic product ratio was 16.1 per cent in 2023, compared with 33.9 per cent among members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
On border security, Adeniyi argued that intelligence sharing, joint patrols with neighbouring countries and data-driven surveillance were more effective than shutting borders.
He cited Nigeria’s border closure from August 2019 to December 2020, saying it curbed some smuggling activities but failed to dismantle the networks responsible for the illegal trade.
According to him, research published this year found that the closure merely reorganised smuggling networks, reinforcing the need for intelligence-led border management.
Adeniyi also disclosed that Customs had intercepted significant consignments of firearms and ammunition, warning that weapons trafficking posed a threat to national security.
He cited the seizure of 844 rifles and 112,500 rounds of ammunition at a bonded terminal in Onne, Rivers State, on June 21, 2024.
The weapons were concealed in a 40-foot container shipped from Türkiye and declared as household goods, including dolls, furniture and plumbing fittings.
He added that the service handed over 1,599 firearms seized between 2018 and 2024 to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in February 2025.
With the 2027 general elections approaching, Adeniyi stressed the need to prevent illegal firearms from entering the country, warning of the potential consequences for security and electoral activities.
He said Customs played a dual role in supporting government revenue and preventing the movement of illicit goods, including weapons that could reach criminal groups.
Earlier, the Director of the TETFUND Centre of Excellence in Security Management, Professor Benjamin Aluko, said the lecture was designed to strengthen collaboration between the university and wider society in addressing security challenges.
The event also featured the presentation of Perspectives on Security Management in Nigeria, a 54-chapter book edited by Isaac Olawale Albert, Benjamin Adeniran Aluko and Tukur Yusufu Buratai.
The centre also presented the first edition of its journal, Ibadan Security Review, published in May 2026 and containing 10 chapters.
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