Customs Reaffirms Support for Nigeria’s $1trn Economy Target

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has reaffirmed its support for Nigeria’s ambition to build a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Mr Adewale Adeniyi, reiterated this pledge on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, while delivering a keynote address at the New Nigeria Festival at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Conference Hall, Abuja.

He emphasised that the economic target was achievable if the plans and strategies developed to achieve it were properly implemented, stressing the need for institutions to translate national aspirations into concrete and measurable results.

The customs chief informed the audience that his agency had moved beyond ideas and discussions to taking practical steps in support of the national economic ambition, citing the service’s ongoing Modernisation Reforms, including the deployment of B’Odogwu, the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme and the Advance Ruling mechanism, as initiatives designed to facilitate legitimate trade, improve predictability in the trading environment and ultimately strengthen revenue generation.

“Execution is nothing if it is not concrete. We have to move from ideas to action and ensure that whatever we plan translates into results. That is how we can begin to see the kind of transformation we are talking about,” he said.

Mr Adeniyi stressed that the responsibility for achieving the $1 trillion economy could not rest solely on government agencies, noting that the target required the collective commitment of institutions, businesses and citizens, adding that the customs, by virtue of its responsibilities in revenue collection, trade facilitation and border management, remained strategically positioned to contribute to the country’s economic transformation.

He, therefore, called for a shift from rhetoric to implementation, stressing that the country’s economic ambition could be achieved only when institutions and citizens alike took ownership of their responsibilities and turned plans into practical, measurable action.