The Nigeria Customs Service has announced that its revenue collections for 2025 exceeded projections, reaching 7.28 trillion. This surpasses the earlier projected 6.5 trillion by 10 percent. Comptroller General Adewale Adeniyi disclosed this information at an event marking the 2026 World Customs Day.
Adeniyi attributed the success to the Service’s efforts in protecting society, citing the discovery of 16 containers of contraband goods valued at over 10 billion. These containers, uncovered at the Apapa port, held narcotics, expired pharmaceuticals, and concealed firearms. Additionally, officers intercepted over 1,600 exotic birds being trafficked without permits at airports, and seized illicit narcotics and counterfeit medicines worth hundreds of millions of naira at land borders.
The Service reported over 2,500 seizures, with an aggregate value of more than 59 billion in prohibited and harmful goods removed from circulation nationwide. These seizures included narcotics, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, wildlife products, arms and ammunition, petroleum products, vehicles, and substandard consumer goods. According to Adeniyi, these operations prevented real harm, including addiction, unsafe treatment, violent crime, and environmental degradation.
The Nigeria Customs Service also launched the Time Release Study, a major step towards making the country’s trade gateways secure, efficient, and globally competitive. The study, conducted at Tincan Island Port, provides comprehensive measurement of clearance performance, revealing both encouraging realities and uncomfortable truths. It shows that examination times are relatively efficient, but excessive idle periods due to fragmented scheduling, manual documentation, and poor coordination extend clearance times unnecessarily.
The Service now has validated clearance timelines covering over 600 declarations, combining manual timestamps and platform data. This evidence enables the Service to identify bottlenecks and concentrate on procedural reform. Adeniyi emphasized that the fastest way to protect Nigerian traders and the economy is through both border security and procedural reform. The Service’s efforts demonstrate its commitment to moving from opinion-driven reforms to evidence-based reforms, and from complaints-driven policy to data-driven policy.
