Customs:Revenue, Enforcement, Why Adeniyi Will Continue To  Be In Good Books  Of Tinubu As A Performer

 By Stephen Ubanna

 When Wale Edun, minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the Economy revealed late last November that Nigeria Customs service, NCS, under the close watch of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi,  MFR,will meet the 2024 revenue target of N5,079,069,085.59 trn, and even surpass it, not many were surprised.

This is because he was talking from a vantage point based on the amount which had been collected and paid into the Federation account by Apapa Command, superintended by Compt. Babatunde Olomu, Customs officer of the Year, 2024, Tin can Island,  which had  actg ACG, Dera Nnadi, as the former Area Controller, now under the Leadership of actg Compt. Frank Onyeka,  Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, Port Harcourt I, Command, Onne, Murtala Muhammed A, and other Commands  of the service, including the Oyo/Osun Command, superintended by Compt. Ben Nkem Oramalugo. The good news was not the Commands took advantage of the continued devaluation of the naira by Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration and unification of the official and parallel, popular, Black markets exchange rate to meet their monthly revenue targets and even surpass it.

It was a matter of time for the Customs Comptroller General, who had been away from the country since the beginning of the year and who the Maritime Journalists had nominated to be given ‘’the Iconic Personality award on Thursday, January 16, 2024, in Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve centre, for taking the service to a higher level where it can compete with other International Maritime Organisations, to speak out.

Beyond taking the service to the International frontier, his efforts in improving the service monthly revenue collection   which had culminated in the service  paying N6,105,315, 543,489.50 , into the Federation Account, as at December , 31, 2024, enhanced Trade Facilitation,  anti-smuggling operations modernization of the Customs Information, and Technology,  currently being executed by the  Chinese,   an information technology Company, Hawei,  and pursuit of inter-agency collaboration is legendary, that wherever two or three stakeholders gather at the nation’s seaports , Adeniyi’s achievements in office over the last one year was said to have dominated their discussions.

On Tuesday, January 14, 2024, at Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, the Customs Comptroller General who was said to be beaming with smiles, while addressing   the Journalists who were happy to meet with him for the first time, this 2025, had confirmed that the service has again recorded an unprecedented performance in revenue collection for the year 2024.

 ‘’I am pleased to announce that the NCS, has again recorded another unprecedented performance in revenue collection in 2024’’, he had said. He was emphatic that service collected over N6.1 trn, which he had said was N1.026 trn or 20.2%, higher than the 2024 revenue target   and 90.4%   increase from the service 2023, collection of  N3,206,583,,002,675.65, under the leadership of Hameed Ali, a rtd Army Colonel and the immediate Comptroller General of the service.

Given an insider information, an elated Adeniyi who had described the impressive 2024, revenue that had been collected and paid into the Federation Account as ‘’historic, asserted that ‘’it marks the highest year -on-year increase  in revenue that had been recorded in recent times’’.

The Customs helmsman who many had described as a Workaholic may have shocked Nigerians when he stated that the NCS, revenue collection under his Leadership in 2024, alone was 52.24%    higher than the growth recorded   in 2022, and  by 18.8% under Ali.

He opined that the service had achieved a milestone in revenue collection October, 2024, as it was said to have collected and paid into the FG’s Consolidated revenue Account a total sum of N603.2 billion

For those who may not have known much about the components of the Customs revenue collection, the Customs boss was said to have told those that cares to listen that the total revenue collected for 2024 comprises of three main components: Federation Account Collections, consisting of Import Duty, Excise Duty, Fees, E-Auction proceeds and Economic Community of West States, ECOWAS, Common External tariff, CET, Levy.,

APM Container Terminal, Apapa

According to him, N3,657,063,981,445.42, was collected as Import Duty, Excise Duty, Fees, E-Auction proceeds and CET Levy while it had collected and paid into the Non-Federation Account Levies, totaling N816,902,844.73, and N1.6 trn was collected as 7.5%, Value Added Tax, VAT, on Imports into the country.

 The no nonsense Customs Comptroller General, had disclosed that the revenue collections paid into the Federation and Non-Federation Account, were achieved despite the insignificant   concessions granted by incumbent President Tinubu’s Administration, ‘’to support various sectors of the Nigerian economy, totaling N1,682,302,648,880.67

.He may have alluded  to the Tax incentives  for Deep  Offshore  Oil and Gas Production, which Edun,  the minister of Finance   had said  are in accordance  with the Oil Companies  Tax  Incentives, Exemption,  Remission, etc. Order, 2024, waiver for Investors wishing to establish Community Cinemas in Nigeria, Tax reliefs and Concessions to big Companies like Dangote, Honney well AND several other blue-chip Companies operating in Nigeria and 30 % waiver on imported cooking gas. This is in addition to employment waivers granted Hospitals.

He had reportedly said that the concessions comprised about N723 bn, import duty, waivers, Levy and other concessions, N372.6 bn, including N586,652,916,152.27, in import VAT relief.  The Customs Chief was said to have made Nigerians to understand that the ‘’strategic concessions were granted ‘’to stimulate country’s economic growth, support industrial development and enhance the overall business environment in line with the present government policy objectives’’. There is no gainsaying the fact the 2024, concessions   value represents a significant reduction from the N3,959,868,268,993.18 recorded in 2023.

 InPerhaps, one area, the service had appreciative in 2024, was in anti-smuggling operations, that was said to have been championed by the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, Ikeja Lagos, FOU, Zone B, Kaduna, and other Interventionists Units across the country,   

The  CCustoms strong man had repeatedly said in the course of addressing the news hunters   that the security dimension arising from  global and  the activities of Bandits Group, Lakurawa Group operating in  in the north western states of Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina  had impacted  on the service mandate   ‘’to protect   the society  from smuggling of harmful substances  into   or exit of  restricted items out of the country .

 He may not have  spared the Islamic Fundamentalist Group, BokoHaram and the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, which activities in the north eastern states of Borno and Yobe states from the Lake Chad Basin, was said to have also impacted on its  anti-smuggling operations   to ensure  that nothing enters or leaves the country  to the neighbouring countries of Niger and the Central African country of Cmeroun.

Worried by the activities of the non -state actors may have informed why the Customs Area Controllers superintending the affairs of the Interventionists Units across the country, acting out the script of the Comptroller General   had’’ adapted their Enforcement strategies to these evolving security challenges’’.

This was said to have resulted in the service making 555 seizures of Contraband items which Valuation experts had put the Duty Paid Value, DPV, at  N35.29 bn, up from the N17.56 bn,  achieved in 2023.  He was said to have stated further those Contraband seizures included traditional and emerging risks to the country’s economic and overall national security.

He had recalled that 900 arms and 13,472 rounds of ammunition and the interception of narcotics   and illicit drugs, resulting in 105 seizures across various forms what the stakeholders believe was aided by ‘’the declaration of a state of emergency at Federal Light Ocean Terminal, FLT, Onee port, in Rivers state’’.

These Contraband seizures, which an insider had said with a Cost, Insurance and Freight, CIF, value of N28.46 billion   and total duty of N6.83 billion, highlights the scale of attempted economic sabotage prevented by the service in 2024.  

Suffice it to say that some of the economic saboteurs who had played into the hands of the Customs Patrol team officers across the country were promptly arrested and prosecuted as a lesson to others who might want to indulge in such negative acts in future. 

There are indications that the service, anti-smuggling activities   had yielded 55 arrests and detention of suspected smugglers in different parts of the country by the various Interventionist Units.

Adeniyi had confirmed that   some of the arrested suspected smugglers   are currently under investigation, stating that with the Presidential mandate, the service will continue ‘’to dismantle the criminal networks behind’’ these smuggling syndicate.

He averred that the NCS, comprehensive approach to its anti-smuggling activities, had actually aligned with ‘’the country’s security objectives and international obligations, positions the service as a crucial actor in the nation’s security architecture as the service continue to facilitate genuine trade’’.

As a prelude to ensuring that smugglers turn a new leaf and embrace Legitimate trade may   have encouraged  CG. Adeniyi and his  Management team  to a step further   have moved ‘’to strengthen the service enforcement capabilities by expanding its technological infrastructure through the integration of geo-spatial technology and other cutting -edge solutions’’.

 He was said to have stated categorically that ‘’these technological advancement and enhanced intelligence   gathering mechanisms’’, will go a long way ‘’to boost the service surveillance and enforcement operations’’.

 He did not stop there. He was said to have further  stated  that ‘’the integration of these modern tools with the  existing frameworks  is a strategic investment  in the future of the  service enforcement operations to ensure   that Patrol team officers  ‘’stay ahead  of the  emerging threats  as the service  continue  to facilitate Legitimate trade’’.

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