The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adeniyi, told the Senate Committee on Finance that import duty waivers granted through Import Duty Exemption Certificates (IDECs) reached about ₦34 trillion between March 2000 and December 2025.

According to him, the waivers covered military hardware, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, manufacturing inputs, food commodities, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles, electric and hybrid vehicles, and other government-approved imports.

He explained that about 60 per cent of the total waivers were for military hardware because of Nigeria's ongoing security challenges, while other exemptions supported healthcare, industrial production, food import programmes and the government's energy transition agenda.

Adeniyi noted that although the policy supports important national objectives, it also reduced the amount of customs revenue that could have been collected by the government.

During the hearing, a representative of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Bello Gulmare, also informed lawmakers that food import waivers, especially for rice and maize, had further reduced Customs revenue.However, he stated that all revenue collected by the NCS was remitted into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in line with financial regulations.

The Senate committee also raised concerns that the Customs Service had not submitted audited financial statements beyond 2019 and directed the agency to provide updated audited accounts and detailed revenue records within one week.The report also highlighted long-standing arguments for and against import duty waivers.

Supporters believe they help lower production costs, improve food security, encourage investment and strengthen strategic sectors, while critics argue that excessive waivers reduce government revenue, create transparency concerns and may be open to abuse.The hearing further examined the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which acknowledged an outstanding unremitted revenue of more than ₦13.9 billion for the 2023 to 2025 period and assured lawmakers that repayment had already started.