The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has ordered the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to provide a comprehensive, detailed breakdown of approximately ₦34 trillion in import duty waivers granted under the Import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) policy.
During a heated revenue monitoring and budget oversight hearing on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, the committee also sharply queried the agency over glaring discrepancies in its financial reporting, refusing to applaud the service for exceeding its collection targets until its accounts are fully balanced.
Demanding Accountability for the ₦34 Trillion Loss
The directive was issued by the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, James Abiodun Faleke, after the management of the Customs Service appeared before the panel.
While the committee clarified that it does not oppose fiscal incentives meant to stimulate economic growth, it insisted that the parliament must know exactly who benefited from the massive concessions and whether they translated into cheaper goods for Nigerians.
“Waiver is good. It is not a bad thing to grant a waiver,” Faleke remarked. “But we want to know those who benefited from the waiver and the purpose for such a waiver. It is okay if you grant waivers on medical and agricultural products to reduce the cost of food. We are not against waivers, but we want to know the beneficiaries of this ₦34 trillion.”
The ₦34 trillion figure, which covers cumulative waivers granted between 2020 and 2025, has become a major flashpoint. Earlier in the week, Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, explained to the Senate that approximately 60% of the waivers were granted for tax-free military hardware to support ongoing security campaigns. The remaining 40% covered duty-free imports of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles, healthcare supplies, and government food intervention programs.
Representing the Comptroller-General at the House hearing, the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Finance, Administration, and Technical Services, Kikelomo Adeola, clarified that the NCS only implements the policy and has no authority in approving the waivers.
‘Your Account Books Are Not Balanced’
Beyond the waivers, the Green Chamber turned its searchlight on the agency’s internal bookkeeping.
Despite Customs consistently reporting collections above its annual approved targets—surpassing its ₦6.584 trillion target to hit ₦7.2 trillion in 2025—lawmakers criticized the agency for presenting vague financial documents that fail to explain the source of the excess revenues.
“We are not going to applaud your efforts now because your account books are not balanced,” Faleke told the Customs delegation. “We know that you want to be transparent, but you have not told us how the excess money you are reporting came about. We want to know what is responsible for this.”
The committee ordered the NCS to submit a month-by-month breakdown of its revenue collections, alongside detailed explanations for all financial variations, within days.
Supporting the call for tighter oversight, the Deputy Chairman of the committee, Saidu Mohammed Abdullahi, argued that the executive must stop “under-budgeting” for strong revenue-generating bodies. He noted that the constant declaration of “surpluses” indicates that the government’s targets are simply set too low.
“I personally believe that they can do more than the target we give to them,” Abdullahi stated. “I think we are not pushing them enough. That is why they will always come up with excesses.”
CAC Directed to Reconcile Debt
In a related development, the House Committee also scrutinized the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Lawmakers queried the CAC over its failure to submit audited financial statements to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) since 2019, despite statutory provisions.
The committee ordered the CAC to hand over a comprehensive database of all registered companies in Nigeria, alongside their registration fees, and demanded the immediate reconciliation of its accounts.
Responding to the query, the Registrar-General of the CAC confirmed that the commission has already agreed to a structured repayment plan to clear its outstanding liabilities through quarterly payments of ₦500 million.
With the National Assembly intensifying its audit of revenue leakages, the Nigeria Customs Service has been given a strict timeline to provide the names of all corporate beneficiaries of the ₦34 trillion import concessions.
Ayodele Quadri
Correspondent
