Senate Approves Customs' 2026 Budget, Backs N11 Trillion Revenue Target

Nigeria's Senate has endorsed the Nigeria Customs Service's (NCS) 2026 budget, establishing an ambitious revenue target of N11.074 trillion and allocating N1.295 trillion for expenditure. This approval follows a review by the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs, which noted the agency's strong performance in 2025. The NCS surpassed its N6.5 trillion revenue target for 2025, bringing in approximately N7.2 trillion, a 110.53 percent performance rate.

Committee chair Isah Jibrin highlighted that the agency's revenue generation could have been even higher, but was impacted by the suspension of telecoms excise duty, healthcare production incentives, and global trade disruptions stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which reduced imports. He also pointed out a significant shortfall in the NCS's 2025 expenditure, with actual spending at N591 billion against an approved budget of N1.132 trillion. Delays in approvals from the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Federal Executive Council were cited as reasons for rolled-over projects.

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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.

For 2026, the projected N11.074 trillion revenue is expected to be driven by expanded technology deployment, enhanced revenue recovery methods, and real-time audit systems. The proposed expenditure includes N421 billion for personnel, N307 billion for overheads, and N565 billion for capital projects, primarily funded by the statutory four percent Free on Board (FOB) levy. Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau praised the NCS's performance, attributing the record revenue generation to the reforms and innovations under the current leadership and justifying President Bola Tinubu's decision to extend the comptroller-general's tenure.

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For an agency to propose gene