Tunde Bakare
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has held it 62nd regular Board meeting to review its performance and predict future results.
The meeting was held on Tuesday, April 29 2025, at the Service’s Headquarters in Maitama, Abuja and chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, who led a high-powered delegation to assess the Service’s first-quarter performance and chart the path forward.
The Board meeting served as a statutory forum to evaluate the Service’s operational strategies, fiscal contributions, and reform-driven activities, particularly in light of its Q1 2025 performance. During the quarter, the NCS recorded a historic ₦1.75 trillion in revenue, exceeding its target by ₦106.5 billion and marking a nearly 30 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024.
Following the meeting, the Minister expressed satisfaction with the Service’s progress but emphasised the need to scale up efforts to meet the country’s economic demands.
“As is expected and required, there is an improvement in the revenue of the Service, which is slightly above what was budgeted for the first quarter. However, much more is required, and more is expected of an institution that is pivotal in revenue,” he states.
Minister Edun described the board meeting as productive and reaffirmed the importance of open governance and accountability within public institutions.
“It was a good meeting. It’s important that we maintain corporate governance oversight and consultation through these regular statutory meetings. At the end of the day, we will always ask that we do more to improve the revenue and the services operations to aid the Nigerian economy and serve the good people of Nigeria”, he remarked.
The meeting also touched on modernisation initiatives such as expanding the B’Odogwu (Unified Customs Management System), implementing the Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) programme, and enhancing anti-smuggling efforts—all aimed at boosting trade facilitation and national security.