Customs revenue surges by 29.96% to N1.75trn in Q1

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Tuesday announced that it recorded a 29.96 percent increase in revenue collection in the first quarter of 2025, generating N1.75 trillion compared to N1.34 trillion generated within same period in 2024.

Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi disclosed this in Abuja  during a press briefing on the activities of the NCS for the first quarter of 2025.

Adeniyi stated that against the Service annual target of N6.58trillion, the first quarter’s proportional benchmark stood at N1.645trillion.

He said, “I’m proud to announce we’ve exceeded this target by N106.5 billion, achieving 106.47% of our quarterly projection. This outstanding performance represents a substantial 29.96% increase compared to the same period in 2024, where we collected N347,705,251,658.31.

“Our month-by-month analysis reveals even more encouraging details of this growth trajectory. January’s collection of N647,880,245,243.67 not only surpassed its monthly target of N548.33 billion by 18.12%, but also showed a remarkable 65.77% year-on-year growth. February’s N540,105,439,535.18 exceeded its target by 1.3% while achieving 19.97% growth over 2024 figures. March maintained this positive trend with N563,516,567,519.20, delivering 2.7% above target and an 11.22% improvement over March 2024.”

The Customs boss said the revenue feat is a testament to the Service’ effective measures to curb revenue losses while streamlining compliant trade.

“The 29.96% annual increase and steady monthly collections confirm our strategy is working. We’ll maintain this momentum through rigorous enforcement and strengthened partnerships, ” he said.

He disclosed further that the total trade value handled by the Service in Q1 2025 amounted to N36.317 trillion.

Adeniyi said within the review period, the Service processed a total of 327,928 Single Goods Declarations (SGDs) for imports, handling goods with a total mass of 4,910,640,283.33 kilograms and a Cost, Insurance, and Freight (CIF) value of N14.807trillion.

“This represents a 5.28% increase in the number of import transactions compared to the 311,492 SGDs processed in Q1 2024, reflecting growing confidence in our trade facilitation measures.

“The significant 40.14% increase in the mass of imports processed (from 3,504,173,117.33 kg in Q1 2024) demonstrates robust growth in import volumes, while the 26.72% increase in CIF value (from N11.685trillion in Q1 2024) indicates a shift towards higher-value goods, ” he said.

For exports, the CGC disclosed that the Service processed 8,153 export shipments (SGDs), representing a 6.4% decrease from Q4 2024 (8,710 SGDs) and a 24.4% decline from Q1 2024 (10,786 SGDs).

“Despite fewer transactions, export mass reached 5.03 billion kilograms – a 10% reduction from Q4 2024’s 5.58 billion kg but a remarkable 348% increase from Q1 2024’s 1.12 billion kg. The CIF value stood at N21.51 trillion, showing a 19% increase from Q4 2024’s N18.07 trillion while remaining stable compared to Q1 2024’s N21.58 trillion”, he added.

In the area of enforcement and anti smuggling operations, the Customs boss disclosed that a total of 298 seizures were recorded within the period, with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N7.7 billion.

He gave the breakdown of the seizures to include 135,474 bags of rice, 65,819 litres of petroleum products, 22 narcotics-related cases valued at N730.7 million, and three wildlife trafficking cases worth N5.65 billion.

Other notable seizures included textile fabrics- 13 cases, with DPV of 134,219,330.00, retreaded tires- 5 cases, valued at N104,599,000.00 DPV), and pharmaceuticals worth N17,188,000.00.

Adeniyi lamented that despite the current achievements, the Service encountered several challenges during the quarter, which impacted its operations and performance.

He said exchange rate volatility continued to affect trade patterns and customs valuation, adding that the service recorded 62 changes in the exchange rate, ranging from a minimum of N1,477.72 to a maximum of N1,569.53 per US dollar, with an average rate of N1,521.59 during the review period.

He said, “This volatility, though slightly moderated compared to the previous quarter (Q4 2024), which saw rates as high as N1,688.28, continues to create uncertainty for traders and affects the predictability of import costs.

“We have been working closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Finance to implement measures aimed at stabilising the exchange rate for import declarations.”