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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has directed the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to submit details of the N34 trillion import duty waivers granted in 2025.
Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Abiodun Faleke, gave the directive when the management of the NCS appeared before the committee as part of its ongoing revenue monitoring and oversight exercise, yesterday.
The committee requested that the Customs Service provide details of the waivers, including the beneficiaries, the legal basis for the concessions and the purposes for which they were approved.
Faleke said while the lawmakers were not opposed to the Federal Government’s waiver policy, the National Assembly had a responsibility to ensure that such concessions were granted transparently and in the national interest.
“Waivers are good. It is not a bad thing to grant waivers. But we want to know those who benefited from the waivers and the purpose for granting them. It is understandable if waivers are granted on medical and agricultural products.
“If you grant a waiver, it should be aimed at helping the economy to grow. For example, if you grant a waiver on agricultural products, it should help reduce the cost of food. So, we are not against waivers. But we want to know the beneficiaries of this N34 trillion waiver.”
Faleke noted that although the Customs Service recorded impressive revenue collections, the financial records presented to the committee did not adequately explain the sources of the excess revenue generated above the approved targets.
“We are not going to applaud your efforts now because your account books are not balanced. We know that you want to be transparent, but you have not told us how the excess money you are reporting came about.
“I can see that in some months, you under-declare your revenue collection, while in other months, you exceed the target. We want to know what is responsible for this. You have to provide these details to enable us to properly assess your performance,” he said.
Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, who was represented by the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, Kikelomo Adeola, explained that the NCS does not approve import duty waivers.
According to him, the Service only implements waiver approvals granted by the Federal Ministry of Finance in accordance with existing laws and government policy.
