Economy
Customs Rakes in N7.28trn Revenue in 2025, Beats Projection by 12%
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it beat its projected revenue collections for 2025 by 12 per cent as it stood at N7.28 trillion.
This was disclosed by the Comptroller General of the Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, who gave the scorecard at an event to mark the 2026 World Customs Day on Monday, explained that the reported revenue exceeded earlier projected N6.5 trillion.
Mr Adeniyi noted that last year showed very clearly what “protecting society” looks like in the real world, noting that officers of the Command uncovered 16 containers of contraband goods in the period under review.
“Across our Commands, officers working with sister agencies disrupted multiple criminal supply chains before they ever reached our communities.
“At Apapa, we uncovered 16 containers of prohibited goods worth over N10 billion — a single operation that combined narcotics, expired pharmaceuticals, and concealed firearms.
“At the airports, officers intercepted over 1,600 exotic birds being trafficked without CITES permits, stopping a wildlife crime operation that would have harmed both biodiversity and Nigeria’s international obligations”, the statement said, adding that across land borders, its teams seized illicit narcotics and counterfeit medicines worth hundreds of millions of Naira, along with ammunition and other prohibited items moving through covert routes.
“These operations do not make headlines for long, but their impact is enduring as fewer young people exposed to harmful drugs; fewer weapons reaching criminal networks; fewer counterfeit medicines reaching patients; fewer endangered species removed from the ecosystem”.
The Service also said it recorded over 2,500 seizures, with an aggregate value of more than N59 billion in prohibited and harmful goods removed from circulation nationwide.
These seizures, it noted, cut across narcotics, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, wildlife products, arms and ammunition, petroleum products, vehicles, and substandard consumer goods.
“This most certainly prevented real harm — addiction, unsafe treatment, violent crime, subsidy, exploitation, environmental degradation, and treaty violations and funerals before they occur”, he stated.
The NCS also said vigilance coexists with facilitation.
“A modern Customs administration must be able to detect high-risk consignments without suffocating lawful trade”, it said, adding that the launch of the Time Release Study is significant.
“The TRS marks a major step toward making Nigeria’s trade gateways secure, efficient, predictable, and globally competitive.
“It signals our commitment to move from opinion-driven reforms to evidence-based reforms, and from complaints-driven policy to data-driven policy”.
The Study conducted at Tincan Island Port provides the most comprehensive measurement of clearance performance in our recent history. It reveals encouraging realities and uncomfortable truths.
It shows, on the one hand, that examination times themselves are relatively efficient, and that Nigeria has the capacity to clear goods quickly.
“It shows, on the other hand, that excessive idle periods—often due to fragmented scheduling, manual documentation, and poor coordination—extend clearance times unnecessarily and erode competitiveness. In other words, our challenge is not that we cannot move goods fast; it is that goods are not allowed to move fast.”
“We now have validated clearance timelines covering more than 600 declarations, combining manual timestamps and platform data.
“We now know with precision how long it takes from booking for examination to physical gate exit, and where bottlenecks concentrate. Armed with such evidence, we are now able to say: the fastest way to protect Nigerian traders and our economy is both through border security and procedural reform”, the service added.
By Dipo Olowookere
The last trading session of the week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a positive note with a 0.26 per cent growth on Friday.
It was the first trading day after the two-day break observed on Wednesday and Thursday for Sallah celebrations by Muslims.
Market participants returned to Customs Street yesterday in high spirits, though keeping an eye on happenings in the macroeconomic environment.
This resulted in the market breadth index closing bearish after recording 32 price gainers and 33 price losers, implying weak investor sentiment.
Sovereign Trust Insurance and Zichis gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N2.75 and N33.00 apiece, International Energy Insurance rose by 9.98 per cent to N4.52, McNichols grew by 9.85 per cent to N8.70, and Aradel Holdings increased by 9.59 per cent to N1,933.80.
Conversely, the trio of CAP, Austin Lax, and Premier Paints lost 10.00 per cent each to settle at N179.10, N3.96, and N33.75 apiece, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank decreased by 9.89 per cent to N4.01, and John Holt fell by 9.84 per cent to N16.95.
As for the performance of the key market sectors yesterday, the banking space shed 2.51 per cent, the consumer goods index depleted by 1.26 per cent, and the industrial goods sector tumbled by 0.05 per cent.
However, bargain-hunting raised the energy segment by 4.38 per cent and lifted the insurance counter by 0.86 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) closed higher by 646.63 points to 250,385.47 points from 249,738.84 points, and the market capitalisation improved by N415 billion to N160.509 trillion from N160.094 trillion.
A total of 1.2 billion stocks worth N43.4 billion exchanged hands in 93,626 deals during the session compared with the 564.1 million stocks valued at N27.2 billion traded in 65,666 deals in the preceding session. This showed that the trading volume, value, and number of deals went up by 112.73 per cent, 59.56 per cent, and 42.58 per cent, respectively.
Fidelity Bank ended the day as the busiest equity with a turnover of 483.0 million units valued at N8.7 billion, Access Holdings transacted 133.3 million units worth N3.2 billion, The Initiates sold 81.7 million units for N2.2 billion, Chams exchanged 43.9 million units valued at N173.8 million, and Dangote Sugar traded 28.4 million units worth N2.0 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira returned from a two-day break on Friday, May 29, stronger against the United States Dollar by 16 Kobo or 0.01 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), trading at N1,375.25/$1 compared with N1,375.41/$1 it was exchanged on Tuesday.
The local currency also appreciated in the same market window against the Pound Sterling during the trading session by N3.62 to sell for N1,848.62/£1 versus N1,852.26/£1, but lost N2.16 against the Euro to close at N1,601.48/€1 compared with the previous rate of N1,599.32/€1.
The official forex market was closed on Wednesday and Thursday for the Sallah break.
A look at the GTBank FX desk showed that the Naira gained N4 against the Dollar yesterday to quote at N1,379/$1, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing value of N1,383/$1, and at the black market, it improved its value by N5 to N1,380/$1 versus the preceding session’s N1,385/$1.
Market analysts noted that the Nigerian Naira outlook remains stable, citing the latest round of FX inflows, which have lifted gross external reserves to $49.259 billion. Some projected that the domestic currency will close the first half of 2026 stronger as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) continues to inject FX inflows into the official market.
Also supporting expected stability is the continued government signal of growth. In his third year in office, in a speech on Friday, President Bola Tinubu inherited severe economic and structural challenges in 2023, including exchange-rate distortions, which he said have since been reformed.
“Multiple exchange rate windows and forex arbitrage created massive distortions, with Nigeria losing more than N8 trillion over three years to rent-seeking and speculative practices.”
According to the president, the situation required urgent and courageous decisions to avert a deeper economic crisis and fiscal collapse.
In the cryptocurrency market, US-Iran ceasefire hopes have failed to pull Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) higher, with the two largest cryptocurrencies losing almost 3 per cent as cooling spot bitcoin ETF inflows reinforced the pullback. BTC dropped 0.3 per cent to sell for $73,456.95, while ETH dipped 0.1 per cent to trade at $2,013.29.
Further, TRON (TRX) went down by 2.1 per cent to $0.3427, and Cardano (ADA) dipped 0.4 per cent to close at $0.2348.
On the other hand, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped 4.7 per cent to $667.52, Ripple (XRP) grew by 2.00 per cent to $1.34, and Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.1 per cent to $82.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The crude oil market shrank by more than 2 per cent on Friday as traders awaited a possible ceasefire deal among the United States, Israel and Iran.
Brent crude settled at $92.05 a barrel after it lost $1.66 or 1.8 per cent, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) finished at $87.36 a barrel, down $1.54 or 1.7 per cent.
The latest reports as of Friday suggest that the US and Iran are set to extend the ceasefire, which will include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. However, such an extension would need to be endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The US and Iran reportedly reached a tentative agreement on Thursday to extend a ceasefire and lift restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The three-month war between the US and Iran has been marked by frequent chatter of an impending end to the conflict that would open the crucial Strait of Hormuz, used to transit one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply. Even with both sides suggesting an agreement was forthcoming, their characterisations of the deal were still somewhat different.
The closure of the waterway has driven energy prices sharply higher worldwide. Recent sessions have been volatile, with swings by as much as $6 for both benchmarks on conflicting signals over a potential reopening of the strait.
Traffic through the maritime chokepoint remains a small fraction of levels before the conflict, with analysts saying a reopening of the waterway would offer some immediate relief to the oil market, but a recovery is still uncertain.
Japan, which relies heavily on oil from the Middle East, last month registered a 66 per cent drop in crude oil imports compared with April last year.
Prices plunged by 19 per cent in May as traders and speculators bet on an extended ceasefire and an eventual US-Iran deal despite the biggest physical supply disruption in history. The slump in prices in May follows the biggest monthly surge in history in April, when oil rallied amid the worst supply disruption ever.
Traders spent most of the week looking beyond current supply shortages and focusing on the possibility that a ceasefire agreement could eventually bring barrels back to market, leading to selloffs.
US crude, petrol, and distillate stockpiles fell last week, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), as demand from refiners and consumers rose, while exports fell by 1.16 million barrels per day to 4.4 million barrels per day.
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