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The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Zone A, has pledged to clear properly documented and compliant cargoes within 48 hours as it intensifies efforts to facilitate trade and boost revenue collection amid declining cargo volumes.
Zonal Coordinator, Assistant Comptroller-General Mohamed Babandede, disclosed this during an interaction with the MARAN newspaper editorial team, saying the zone was targeting nearly N8 trillion in revenue in 2026 as part of its contribution to the Federal Government’s revenue drive.
Zone A, which accounts for about 80 per cent of the NCS’s total revenue, comprises 16 commands, including Apapa, Tin-Can Island, Lekki Deep Sea Port, PTML, Seme and Ogun commands.
Babandede said the zone was leveraging ongoing reforms, automation and technology-driven processes to increase revenue collection while making legitimate trade faster, more predictable and less cumbersome.
He explained that Customs was increasingly prioritising compliant traders and consignments, stressing that cargoes with proper documentation should be capable of completing the clearance process and leaving Customs control within 48 hours.
The Zonal Coordinator also highlighted the importance of a one-stop-shop approach to cargo examination and release, saying Customs was working to prevent unnecessary interventions after consignments had completed the required processes.
“Any intelligence or information requiring further intervention should be acted upon before the cargo is released,” he said, adding that the policy was designed to eliminate avoidable delays and facilitate legitimate trade.
According to him, once a consignment has been properly examined and formally released, it should not be subjected to further stoppages by Customs officers elsewhere in the country.
Babandede said the approach would provide greater certainty for importers and other legitimate traders while ensuring that Customs interventions are targeted at consignments requiring further scrutiny.
He further disclosed that the NCS was working towards achieving fully paperless operations by the end of 2026, with critical stages of the cargo clearance process, including declaration, examination and release, increasingly moving to electronic platforms.
The digitisation drive, he said, would extend to transit cargo, with electronic tracking systems being deployed to provide greater visibility over consignments as they move through the supply chain.
The reforms are expected to strengthen Customs’ ability to monitor cargo while reducing physical interventions and improving the efficiency of cargo movement across ports and border commands.
Babandede, however, cautioned that the success of the Service’s trade facilitation initiatives would depend significantly on the level of compliance by importers, customs agents and other stakeholders.
He urged importers to ensure that their declarations are accurate, complete and transparent, stressing that technology alone could not eliminate delays where traders provide inadequate, inaccurate or misleading information.
The Zone A Coordinator maintained that Customs was seeking to strike a balance between revenue mobilisation, trade facilitation and effective border control.
He noted that this balance had become increasingly important as declining cargo volumes continued to put pressure on revenue expectations across the country’s major ports and border commands.
With Zone A responsible for the bulk of Customs’ revenue contribution, the success of its technology-driven reforms and faster cargo-clearance regime could have significant implications for both government revenue and Nigeria’s trade competitiveness.
