There were two press statements con­cerning revenue generated by the Nige­ria Customs Service, NCS, published in the Guardian Newspapers in the year 2024.

In the first report published on Jan­uary 11 2024, Customs Service records 21.4% revenue increase in 2023 – Guard­ian Nigeria News, Comptroller Gener­al, CG, of the Nigeria Customs Service Bashir Adewale Adeniyi was quoted as having said that “In the fiscal year 2023, the Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS) achieved a significant milestone by recording a total revenue collection of NGN 3,206,603,417,315.47, marking a noteworthy 21.4% increase from the preceding year’s total revenue of NGN 2,641,616,673,501.83’.

This bit of news was also carried on the Twitter (X) handle of the Nigeria Customs Service which has two hun­dred and ninety-ty thousand followers as at 2024.

Six months after that January 11 2024 publication where the NCS declared NGN 3,206,603,417,315.47, the CG in an­other press statement and published in the Guardian Newspapers of June 19, 2024, to mark the one year in office of the CGS, Customs revenue hits N4.49trn, surges 74% in one year.

Guardian Nigeria News said that ‘The NCS reported a remarkable 74% growth in revenue collection over the past year, recording a total revenue col­lection of N4.49trillion between June and May 2024, compared to the N2.258tril­lion collected during the corresponding period of the previous year’.

The figures appeared a bit vague – especially as there was no breakdown as to how these monies were generat­ed. Consequently, this investigation sent a request for information to the Customs headquarters in Abuja seek­ing a breakdown of revenue generated by the Service by all area commands, month-by-month for year 2023. At first the Customs Service sent us a report purportedly being revenue collected month by month by all area commands for year 2023.

According to that information we received from the NCS, the breakdown of revenue generated by the NCS in 2023 is as follows: January (N199,021, 819, 147.97), February (N186,962,808,508.80), March(N216,750,688,827.56), April (N172,168,474,949.28), May (N216,012,983,531.81), June (214,214,840,276.06), July (312,554,220,287.36), August (371,476,785,325.14) Septem­ber (274,404,998,657.13), October (375,270,695,594.87), November (320,998,899,133.62) and revenue for the month of December 2023 was (334,037,495,485.94).

Owing to the seeming delicate nature of the figures published by the customs service, and the importance of getting the proper figures, this investigation asked two independent individuals to compute the figures – the one is a qualified mechanical engineer who has taught Mathematics in a sixth form school for over a decade. The other is a former bank manager with two decades of work with figures.

Both individuals got the same figures, markedly different from the figures that CGS Adeniyi announced to Nigerians.

The figure for 2023 as announced by CG Adeniyi as revenue generated by the NCS was NGN 3,206,603,417,315.47, (Three trillion, two hundred and six billion, six hundred and three million, four hundred and seventeen thousand, three hundred and fifteen naira, for­ty-seven kobo), while that provided by the Customs to this investigation was N3, 193, 874, 706, 717.94 (Three trillion, one hundred and ninety-three billion, eight hundred and seventy-four million, sev­en hundred and seventeen naira, nine­ty-four kobo).

Between the figures reported by the Nigeria Customs Service, and pub­lished by the Guardian Newspapers (and indeed nearly every newspaper house in Nigeria), and that of the Nigeria Customs provided this investigation, there is a difference of N12, 728, 710, 597. 53 (Twelve billion, seven hundred and twenty-eight million, seven hundred and ten thousand, five hundred and nine­ty-seven naira, fifty-three kobo).

Owing to this difference, we wrote back to the NCS to confirm if the figures that they initially sent were authentic, correct and reliable. As reply, the NCS sent another document which they claim is the correct, authentic and reli­able version of revenue they generated in 2023.

The figures on this later document tallied with that which the Guardian Newspapers published on January 11, 2024. The disparity in both documents may have been errors at the point of computing these figures cover the en­tire area commands in Nigeria and that the NCS could provide some of these figures on request, and within the short time the request for information was made is an indication that the NCS has a strong bookkeeping department which it must review.

In January 2024, the Nigerian Senate proposed the increment of the revenue generated by the Nigeria Customs Ser­vice to N5trillion through the imposition of ‘targets’.

Senate wants Customs to increase N5trn revenue target for 2024 – Guard­ian Nigeria News. This is in spite of the fact that these proposed increases or ‘targets’ are made in what looks like a contravention of an Act of Parliament itself – the CET Tariff – Act Number 4 of the Customs Service itself. Information on the website of the Customs Service indicates that under this Act, there are already well-spelt out tariffs and charges for goods coming into or leaving Nigeria, which apparently only an Act of Parlia­ment can adjust.

Secondly, after the announcement by the CG that the NCS generated NGN 3,206,603,417,315.47, (Three trillion, two hundred and six billion, six hundred and three million, four hundred and seventeen thousand, three hundred and fifteen naira, forty-seven kobo) in 2023, what was the rationale behind keeping another report of N3, 193, 874, 706, 717.94 (Three trillion, One Hundred and ninety-three billion, eight hundred and seventy-four million, seven hun­dred and six thousand, seven hundred and seventeen naira, ninety-four kobo) as revenue generated in 2023 in their records?

On June 25, 2024, at the National As­sembly, a senior NCS official slumped and passed on as he struggled to recon­cile figures of revenue generated by his organisation, Customs mourns as DC dies at the National Assembly during Reps probe (guardian.ng).

Such needless and very unfortunate occurrences can be avoided if the NCS puts its books in prim and proper order and thrash all such potentially mislead­ing info in its custody.