Customs agents protest proposed license fee hike, hold emergency meeting Thursday

Following the proposed increase in customs license fees by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), customs agents are set to meet on Thursday to decide on a unified response.

The implementation of the planned review of licensing fees for customs  agents, according to the NCS, is scheduled to take effect from January 2026.

The new rates have sparked outrage among agents, who say the increases are astronomical and threaten their livelihoods.

The proposed fee structure will see the cost of a fresh license for a clearing agency surge from N515,000 to N10 million,. For existing agents, the yearly license renewal fee will rise from N215,000 to N4 million.

For bonded warehouses, the proposed licensing rate is now N20 million from the previous N60,000 fee. The renewal rate has also moved up from N60,000 to N10 million.

In a notice of meeting, the National Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Olumide Fakanlu, urged all licensed customs agents to attend, regardless of their association allegiance.

The meeting, scheduled for Thursday, August 21, 2025, at 12 noon at Rockview Hotel, Apapa, he said, is strictly for directors of customs licensed companies.

According to the notice, the agenda is focused on the “License and Permit Fee Hike,” which Fakanlu stated “threatens our corporate existence.”

He noted that a communiqué from the meeting, complete with the names and signatures of attendees, will be forwarded to the relevant government agencies.

“Endeavor to attend in order to lend your voice to this burning issue that threatens our corporate existence,” the notice reads.