By Olugbenga Salami
The Senate on Wednesday approved the 2026 budget proposal of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, endorsing a record revenue target of N11.074 trillion and a total expenditure of N1.295 trillion for the fiscal year.
The approval followed the presentation and consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs, chaired by Senator Isah Jibrin, (APC Kogi East), during plenary in Abuja.
Presenting the report, Jibrin said the committee first reviewed the agency’s 2025 budget performance before examining the 2026 estimates. He disclosed that Customs surpassed its 2025 revenue target of N6.5 trillion by generating about N7.2 trillion, representing 110.53 per cent performance.
According to him, the agency’s performance would have been even higher but for the suspension of excise duty on telecommunications services, fiscal incentives to boost local production of healthcare products, and global trade disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, which affected wheat imports.
On expenditure, the committee chairman said although Customs had an approved budget of N1.132 trillion in 2025, actual spending stood at N591 billion. He blamed the shortfall in capital expenditure on delays in approvals by the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, and the Federal Executive Council, FEC, which forced several projects to be rolled over to 2026.
For 2026, Jibrin said the projected N11.074 trillion revenue will be driven by wider deployment of technology, improved revenue recovery, real-time audit systems, better trade facilitation, and intensified anti-smuggling operations.
He explained that the proposed N1.295 trillion expenditure is broken down into N421 billion for personnel costs, N307 billion for overheads, and N565 billion for capital projects.
Funding, he added, will come mainly from the statutory four per cent Free on Board, FOB, levy under the Nigeria Customs Service Act, 2023.
Based on its review, the committee recommended that the Senate approve both the revenue target and the expenditure estimates.
Contributing to the debate, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin commended the committee for a thorough report and praised the Comptroller-General of Customs and his team for their performance.
“You have an agency that budgeted to generate about N6.5 trillion but ended up generating N7.2 trillion. That is a wonderful performance, and we cannot commend the Comptroller-General and his team enough,” Barau said.
He noted that the agency’s fiscal discipline was evident; spending only N591 billion in 2025 despite higher revenue, with more going to capital projects than overheads.
Barau also described the N11 trillion targets for 2026 as proof of confidence in the reforms led by the current Customs management. “For an agency to propose generating N11 trillion and spending only N1.2 trillion to run its operations shows remarkable fiscal discipline. This is an institution Nigerians should be proud of,” he said.
In his remarks, Senate President Godswill Akpabio also commended the committee for its scrutiny and congratulated the NCS leadership, expressing confidence that the approved budget would strengthen Customs operations and boost federal revenue.
