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The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has cleared Inland Containers Nigeria Limited (ICNL) facilities in Kano and Kaduna after verifying their compliance with operating requirements under its ongoing transit reconciliation exercise.
The two facilities were among 17 bonded terminals, warehouses and Free Trade Zone (FTZ) enterprises listed as having been verified and reconciled by the Comptroller-General’s Special Task Force on Transits (CGC-STFT).
In a circular dated September 25, 2026, referenced NCS/ENF/STFT/ABJ/HQ/VOL.1/NO. 21 and signed by the Deputy Comptroller and National Coordinator of the CGC-STFT, TS Sanusi, the Service published an annex containing facilities whose positions had been verified and marked “Reconciled.”
Items eight and nine on the list are Inland Containers Nigeria Limited, Kano, and Inland Containers Nigeria Limited, Kaduna, also known as Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP).
Both facilities carry the remark “Reconciled” in the Customs document.
Other operators listed include Dangwauro Container Terminal, Kano; enterprises operating under the Onne Oil & Gas Free Zone Authority; Enugu Industrial Park; AHL Energy FTZ; SPFL Base, Akwa Ibom; and other private bonded operators.
The exercise is part of the Customs Service’s wider effort to reconcile outstanding transit transactions before operators can process fresh duty-suspended cargo movements.
Under the process, operators with unresolved transit positions are required to account for previous cargo transfers. Until such positions are reconciled, further transit processing, waivers or exceptional local clearances may be restricted.
The September 25 annex therefore confirms that ICNL’s Kano and Kaduna facilities have completed the verification and reconciliation process.
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The development also clarifies earlier reports or circulating lists that may have categorised the two ICNL facilities and other operators as having unresolved positions.
ICNL, incorporated in 1980, operates bonded terminals and the Kaduna Inland Dry Port, Nigeria’s first inland dry port. The company handles the movement of cargo from seaports to inland locations under Customs bond.
The company has maintained Customs operations at its Kano and Kaduna facilities, with the latter serving as a major inland cargo-handling point for businesses in Northern Nigeria.
The reconciliation exercise comes amid intensified Customs enforcement against cargo diversion.
In late 2025, the Service reported the seizure of 20 diverted transit containers in Kano and Jigawa with a duty-paid value of about ₦769.5 million. Customs described the diversion of transit cargo as a violation of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023.
Trade stakeholders have generally supported the reconciliation of outstanding transit transactions before new duty-suspended cargo movements are approved, while calling for the process to be completed within reasonable timelines.
They have also urged Customs to promptly restore normal operations to operators whose records have been reconciled, rather than keeping compliant businesses under restrictions.
The September 25 circular describes the list as part of an ongoing verification and reconciliation exercise. It does not mean that all bonded terminals, warehouses or FTZ enterprises in the country have been cleared.
Facilities with outstanding issues remain subject to applicable Customs restrictions until their positions are verified and reconciled.
