Abdullahi Wada, national PRO of Customs, speaking in Port Harcourt at a media parley
The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) says its controller-general was misrepresented in the matter of waivers worth about N34trn granted since the year 2000.
The report has provoked controversies with the National Assembly asking for names of all beneficiaries and other details including asking for modalities of reporting waivers.
Reacting in Port Harcourt, however, Abdullahi Wada, the national public relations officer (PRO) of the Service, who sought to provide a proper context about waivers, said Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, the Controller General, was quoted out of context.
He said: “There’s nothing bad about waivers. Waivers are meant to stimulate the economy. They are meant to improve manufacturing. If we have more industries working, we’ll have more people that will be employed, and the economy will be more viable. So what he (CGC) only said was a certain amount was dedicated for waivers provided they were being utilized for what it’s meant to be. So that is the context I would like to provide.”
Wada, the PRO, who is a deputy controller, said a negative version was trending in the media. The trending indicates that the Nigeria Customs Service reported that the federal government granted ₦34 trillion in import duty waivers through Import Duty Exemption Certificates (IDECs) from March 2000 to December 2025.
Many perceived this as massive tax concession, and this came under legislative review by the National Assembly. Key facts however indicate that the ₦34 Trillion Waivers were by the Federal Ministry of Finance which alone approves all waivers, while Customs only implements them.
Major beneficiaries may be about 60% which were recorded to have gone to military hardware procurements to tackle security challenges.
Others were said to have covered Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles, electric cars, healthcare supplies, industrial machinery, and food intervention programmes.
Eyebrows have been raised on waivers to electric and CNG cars where local manufacturers said it is threatening to shut down local manufacturing.
Issues of transparency have also been raised as the House of Representatives Committee on Finance asked for a full list of all beneficiaries. The lawmakers reportedly questioned discrepancies in how Customs reports its revenue targets and collections.
