Trajectory of revenue collection by Nigeria Customs since 1891

By Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

It is pertinent to reflect on the Nigeria Customs Service’s journey in revenue generation, which has seen remarkable progression over the years, before delving into our performance for the year 2024 under review.

Let me start with the earliest record of customs duties collected on merchandise and species in 1891, which according to the National Archives, stood at £516,817 (equivalent to ₦604.7 million at current exchange rates, excluding historical inflation). This marked the beginning of what we now know as Customs Revenue collection in Nigeria.

By 1960, according to the report of the Board of Customs, the value of Customs duties recorded by the then Department of Customs and Excise had grown significantly to £55,918,367. Three decades later, by 1990, when the department operated under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, revenue figures had reached ₦9.2 billion, marking a significant evolution in our collection capacity.

The Nigeria Customs Service has consistently demonstrated its capacity for growth and adaptation in revenue collection. In December 2017, we achieved a historic milestone by crossing the One Trillion Naira mark, collecting ₦1.037 trillion and exceeding our target by an impressive 34%. This achievement set the foundation for even greater milestones in subsequent years.

The year 2022 marked another watershed moment as the Service crossed the Two Trillion Naira threshold, collecting ₦2.6 trillion. While this represented a significant increase in our collection capacity, we acknowledged the 14% shortfall from the ambitious ₦3 trillion target set by the Federal Government.

In 2023, maintaining this upward trajectory, the Service further demonstrated its growing capacity by crossing the Three Trillion Naira mark, collecting ₦3.2 trillion. Though this fell short of our ₦3.6 trillion target by 13%, it represented a significant expansion of our revenue collection capabilities and laid the groundwork for our performance in 2024.

It is against this backdrop of consistent growth that I present to you our achievements for the year 2024, a year that has seen the Service reach new heights in revenue collection, trade facilitation, and enforcement activities.

I am pleased to announce that the Nigeria Customs Service has again recorded another unprecedented performance in revenue collection for the year 2024. The Service collected a total sum of ₦6,105,315,543,489.50 (Six Trillion, One Hundred and Five Billion, Three Hundred and Fifteen Million, Five Hundred and Forty-Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Eighty-Nine Naira, Fifty Kobo), surpassing our target of ₦5,079,069,866,085.50 by ₦1,026,245,677,404.00, representing a 20.2% increase above the target.

This remarkable achievement represents a significant 90.4% increase from our 2023 collection of ₦3,206,583,002,675.65. The growth is historic as it marks the highest Year-on-Year increase recorded by the Service in recent times, surpassing the 52.24% growth recorded in 2022 by 38.18 percentage points. Additionally, the Service achieved another milestone in October 2024 by recording the highest monthly collection ever of ₦603,171,859,991.97.

The total revenue collected for 2024 comprises three main components:

a. Federation Account Collections. The sum of ₦3,657,063,981,445.42 was collected into the Federation Account, consisting of Import Duty, Excise Duty, Fees, E-Auction proceeds, and CET Levy.

b. Non-Federation Account Levies. A total of ₦816,902,844,844.73 was collected as Non-Federation Account Levies.

c. Value Added Tax (VAT). The Service collected ₦1,631,348,717,199.35 as VAT on imports.

It is pertinent to note that these collections were achieved despite significant concessions granted to support various sectors of the economy, totalling ₦1,682,302,648,880.67. These concessions comprised ₦723,000,081,776.68 in import duty waivers, ₦372,649,650,851.72 in other levy concessions, and ₦586,652,916,152.27 in import VAT relief. These strategic concessions were granted to stimulate economic growth, support industrial development, and enhance the overall business environment in line with government policy objectives. Notably, the 2024 concession value represents a significant reduction from the ₦3,959,868,268,993.18 recorded in 2023. This reduction is a direct result of our enhanced monitoring mechanisms and strategic reforms aimed at blocking loopholes and eliminating abuses in the concession granting process, ensuring that only genuine and qualifying enterprises benefit from these incentives.

These achievements were made possible through our continuous alignment with the policy objectives of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, under the astute guidance of the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Olawale Edun, and the support of Management and the entire staff of Nigeria Customs Service.