Key points
- The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it is on course to achieve its ₦11 trillion revenue target for 2026.
- The Service generated ₦4.03 trillion in revenue in the first half of 2026.
- Comptroller-General of Customs, Dr Adewale Adeniyi, attributed the performance to automation, intelligence-led enforcement and improved stakeholder collaboration.
- Technology-driven reforms are replacing manual processes and reducing human discretion in customs operations.
- The NCS is using Time Release Studies to reduce cargo clearance delays and improve trade facilitation.
- Customs is strengthening collaboration with security and financial intelligence agencies to tackle smuggling, illicit financial flows and wildlife trafficking.
Main Story
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it is on course to meet its ₦11 trillion revenue target for 2026, with technology-led reforms, improved trade facilitation and stronger border security driving its revenue performance.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Dr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this in a compendium obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), noting that the Service generated ₦4.03 trillion in the first half of the year.
Adeniyi said the figure represented a significant improvement over the corresponding period in 2025 and placed the NCS ahead of its mid-year revenue projections.
He attributed the growth to the deliberate automation of customs processes, intelligence-led enforcement and stronger collaboration with stakeholders across the trade and security ecosystem.
According to him, the modernisation of the Service is focused on reducing human discretion in core customs processes by deploying standardised rules, risk-based systems, automated valuation references and data-driven targeting.
He said the reforms were designed to reduce revenue leakages while building greater confidence among compliant traders.
The Issues
The central issue is how the NCS can sustain revenue growth while ensuring that increased revenue collection does not translate into higher compliance costs or delays for legitimate businesses.
The Service is also expected to balance its revenue mandate with trade facilitation and border security, particularly in tackling smuggling, illicit financial flows and other forms of cross-border crime.
Another key concern is the need to sustain technology adoption across ports and borders while ensuring that customs processes remain transparent, predictable and efficient for traders.
What’s Being Said
Dr Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller-General of Customs
“Modernisation within the Service is aimed at replacing officers’ discretion with standardised rules, risk-based systems, automated valuation references, and data-driven targeting to reduce vulnerability in customs operations.”
Adeniyi said the combination of technology and improved compliance was already contributing to stronger revenue performance.
“We removed human discretion, deployed technology, and built trust with compliant traders. When you do that, revenue will grow exponentially without hurting business.”
On the Service’s wider security role, he said:
“The NCS is working closely with the Army, Navy, DSS, EFCC, and NFIU in coordinated operations across land, sea, and air borders.”
He also stressed that Customs’ mandate goes beyond revenue collection.
“The Nigeria Customs Service is not just about collecting duties.”
According to him, the Service also serves as a trade facilitator, a generator of data for national planning and a gatekeeper against smuggling.
“Our job is to ensure that Nigeria’s borders work for Nigeria – for revenue, for security, and for prosperity.”
What’s Next
The NCS is expected to deepen the deployment of technology, intelligence-led enforcement and automated processes as it works towards achieving the ₦11 trillion revenue target by the end of 2026.
The continued use of Time Release Studies will also be important in measuring and reducing cargo clearance times, cutting transaction costs and improving the efficiency of Nigeria’s trade corridors.
Meanwhile, the Service is expected to sustain joint operations with the Army, Navy, DSS, EFCC and NFIU to disrupt smuggling networks, illicit financial flows and wildlife trafficking.
Bottom Line
The NCS’s ₦4.03 trillion first-half revenue performance places the Service on a strong path towards its ₦11 trillion 2026 target. More importantly, the performance signals a strategic shift towards technology, automation and intelligence-led operations as Customs seeks to increase revenue while making Nigeria’s borders more secure and trade processes more efficient.
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