The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Tuesday said it collected N1.7trillion in the First Quarter of 2025 (Q1 2025).
Its Comptroller-General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi broke the news in Abuja during the briefing on the NCS activities in the Q1 2025.
He said, “I am pleased to report the Service’s revenue collection for Q1 2025 totaled ₦1,751,502,252,298.05.”
He also noted that annual target of the service is N6.5 trillion while the target for the period under review is N1.64trillion.
According to him, the Q1 2025 collection indicated that the NCS surpassed its target by N106.5billion, achieving the target by 6.47 per cent.
He also said the performance represented 29.96 per cent increase over the N1.34 trillion collection of Q1 2024.
In his month-by-month analysis, Adeniyi revealed that the service in January collected ₦647,880,245,243.67 to surpass the target of ₦548.33 billion by 18.12%, and also recorded a remarkable 65.77% year-on-year growth.
He said February’s ₦540,105,439,535.18 exceeded its target by 1.3% while achieving 19.97% growth over 2024 figures.
In March, according to him, NCS maintained the positive trend with ₦563,516,567,519.20, delivering 2.7% above target and an 11.22% improvement over March 2024.
Adeniyi however attributed the positive performance to Reforms initiated under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
He added that the robust statistics were due to the hard work of the NCS officers.
“Let me emphasize that every statistic we share today represents the hard work of our customs officers – stopping illegal goods at our borders, enabling lawful trade, and securing vital government revenue.
“While we’ve achieved significant successes this quarter, we’ve also encountered challenges that have provided valuable lessons for our ongoing operations,” he said.
Adeniyi said NCS maintained robust anti-smuggling operations during the first quarter of 2025, recording 298 seizures with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of ₦7,698,557,347.67.
He said this represents a significant 78.41% increase compared to the ₦4,315,162,568.35 recorded in Q4 2024, demonstrating heightened operational effectiveness.
The Customs boss said however, when compared to Q1 2024’s ₦9,587,256,998.05, the Service observed a 19.70% reduction in Duty Paid Value (DPV), attributable to improved compliance through sustained stakeholder engagement and the deterrent effect of the enforcement activities.
He said rice remained the most prevalent seized commodity, with 159 cases involving 135,474 bags valued at ₦939,309,698.00.
He stressed that petroleum products followed with 61 seizures totaling 65,819 liters (₦43,336,160.81 DPV).
According to him, of particular note were 22 narcotics interceptions valued at ₦730,748,173.00, reflecting our intensified focus on combating drug trafficking.
The Service, he said, also recorded three high-value wildlife product seizures with a remarkable ₦5,653,522,600.00 DPV, underscoring both the lucrative nature of this illegal trade and our commitment to environmental protection under international conventions.
He said other notable seizures included textile fabrics (13 cases, ₦134,219,330.00 DPV), retreaded tires (5 cases, ₦104,599,000.00 DPV), and pharmaceuticals (1 case, ₦17,188,000.00 DPV).
Adeniyi said, these comprehensive results demonstrate the Service’s vigilance across all categories of prohibited and restricted goods.
He said the total trade value handled by the Service in Q1 2025 amounted to ₦36.31trillion.
Adeniyi said in the period under review import N14.8trillion while was N21.51 trillion, indicating a trade surplus of N6.9 trillion.
He said, “During the first quarter of 2025, the Service processed a total of 327,928 Single Goods Declarations (SGDs) for imports, handling goods with a total mass of 4,910,640,283.33 kilograms and a Cost, Insurance, and Freight (CIF) value of ₦14,807,960,201,235.00.
“In Q1 2025, the Service processed 8,153 export shipments (SGDs), representing a 6.4% decrease from Q4 2024 (8,710 SGDs) and a 24.4% decline from Q1 2024 (10,786 SGDs).
“Despite fewer transactions, export mass reached 5.03 billion kilograms – a 10% reduction from Q4 2024’s 5.58 billion kg but a remarkable 348% increase from Q1 2024’s 1.12 billion kg.
“The CIF value stood at ₦21.51 trillion, showing a 19% increase from Q4 2024’s ₦18.07 trillion while remaining stable compared to Q1 2024’s ₦21.58 trillion.”
Adeniyi said smuggling of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol was still thriving because of the cheapness of the product in Nigeria compared to other countries.”