The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has reported a significant achievement in its revenue collection for 2024, surpassing its annual target well before the year ends. Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, revealed that the service has collected N5.7 trillion in revenue as of Tuesday, November 12, 2024.
Adeniyi shared this milestone during the 2024 Comptroller-General of Customs Conference held in Abuja, which focused on strengthening partnerships within and beyond Nigeria.
The theme of the conference, “Nigeria Customs Service: Engaging Traditional and New Partners with Purpose,” emphasized collaboration as a key to their recent success.
At the conference, Adeniyi attributed the revenue boost to strategic engagements and collaborative approaches, allowing the NCS to reach and even exceed its target of NGN 5.07 trillion.
“Our strategic engagements and collaborative approaches have yielded remarkable results across our core statutory responsibilities. I am pleased to announce that, as of 12 November 2024 at exactly 13:10 Hrs, the NCS hit its 2024 revenue target of NGN 5.07tn, collecting NGN5.079tn with more than a month remaining in the fiscal year,” Adeniyi said.
Adeniyi also discussed the agency’s ongoing efforts to improve trade efficiency, including the selection of six participants for its Authorised Economic Operators program, which aims to streamline customs processes for trusted traders. He added that the NCS processed 21 advance ruling requests, a program designed to speed up decisions on import and export procedures before cargo arrives at Nigerian ports.
Additionally, the Comptroller-General highlighted improvements from the NCS’s time release study, an initiative focused on reducing port congestion and achieving 24-hour cargo clearance.
Adeniyi praised Operation Whirlwind, a joint effort involving the National Security Adviser’s office and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency, aimed at combatting fuel smuggling—a pressing issue for Nigeria’s economy.
