By Oluwakemi Kindness
The House of Representatives has directed the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to submit a detailed breakdown of the nearly ₦34 trillion worth of import duty waivers granted in 2025.
Lawmakers want Customs to provide the names of beneficiaries, the legal basis for each waiver and the purpose for which the concessions were approved.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, James Faleke, gave the directive on Wednesday when the Customs management appeared before the panel as part of the National Assembly’s ongoing revenue oversight exercise.
Faleke said the Committee was not opposed to the government’s waiver policy but had a constitutional duty to ensure the concessions were transparent and served the national interest.
“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,” he said.
He noted that waivers on agricultural and medical imports could support economic growth and lower food and healthcare costs, but insisted lawmakers must know who benefited from the ₦34 trillion concessions.
The Committee also questioned Customs over what it described as inconsistencies in its revenue reports despite the agency exceeding its annual revenue targets.
Faleke said the records submitted to lawmakers did not clearly explain how Customs generated revenue above its approved targets.
“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.
He directed the agency to provide a month-by-month breakdown of its revenue performance to enable the Committee properly assess its operations.
Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Saidu Mohammed Abdullahi, urged the Federal Government to raise Customs’ annual revenue targets, arguing that the agency had consistently outperformed expectations.
Responding, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, represented by Deputy Comptroller-General Kikelomo Adeola, said the Nigeria Customs Service does not approve import duty waivers.
She explained that the Federal Ministry of Finance grants the waivers in line with existing laws, while Customs only implements the approvals.
Adeola also called on state governments to invest in inland dry ports to reduce congestion at seaports and improve cargo clearance across the country.
Meanwhile, the Committee directed the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to submit records of all registered companies and businesses, including the registration fees paid by each entity.
Lawmakers also queried the Commission for failing to submit its audited financial statements to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission since 2019.
The Fiscal Responsibility Commission told the Committee that the CAC owes the Federal Government ₦13.9 billion in unremitted operating surplus.
The CAC said it had begun reconciling its accounts with the Commission and had agreed to clear the outstanding debt through quarterly payments of ₦500 million.
