The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has asked the Nigeria Customs Service to account for about ₦34 trillion in import duty waivers granted in 2025.
At a session on Wednesday, the committee directed Customs to provide the names of beneficiaries, the legal basis for the waivers, and the purpose of the concessions.
The meeting was part of the National Assembly’s oversight of revenue agencies to improve fiscal accountability.
Committee Chairman, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, said the House is not against waivers where necessary.
But he added that the huge amount involved requires full disclosure to determine if it aligns with national economic goals.
According to him, the committee’s interest was to establish who benefited from the waivers and whether the incentives translated into the intended economic gains.
“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.
“If you grant waiver, it is aimed at helping the economy to grow. For example, if you grant waiver on agricultural products, it is aimed at reducing the cost of food. So, we are not against waiver. But we want to know the beneficiaries of this ₦34 trillion waiver,” Faleke said.
The committee also questioned the Customs Service over what it described as inconsistencies in its revenue reporting despite consistently surpassing annual revenue targets.
Acknowledging the agency’s impressive collections, Faleke said the financial records presented to lawmakers did not sufficiently explain the variations in monthly revenue performance or the sources of excess revenue generated above approved targets.
He stated that accurate and detailed reporting remained essential for effective legislative oversight.
He added: “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.”
Speaking, Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Saidu Mohammed Abdullahi, argued that the Federal Government should consider setting more ambitious revenue targets for the Customs Service.
He noted that the agency had consistently exceeded its assigned benchmarks.
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 but merely implements approvals issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance in line with extant laws and government policy.
Commenting on efforts to improve trade facilitation, Adeola urged state governments to establish inland dry ports, describing them as critical infrastructure that would decongest the nation’s seaports and accelerate 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 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 Customs’ cargo scanners were largely operational, with only a few units temporarily out of service for repairs.
A member of the Committee, Hon. Ifeanyi Uzokwe, urged the Service to hold officers accountable where negligence contributed to equipment failures or avoidable delays in cargo examination.