Apapa Port Revenue Hits ₦2.4trn in 10 months – Customs

The Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has recorded ₦2.4 trillion in import duty collections between January and October 2025, with a record ₦304 billion posted in October, the highest monthly revenue by any customs command in NCS history.

Command spokesperson Tunde Ayagbalo said October’s figure surpasses the ₦264 billion collected in October 2024. With two months left in the year, the command has already exceeded its total 2024 revenue, he added.

Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Emmanuel Oshoba, praised officers and port stakeholders for the milestone, calling it “the beginning of even stronger revenue performance” under his watch. He noted the command is primed to handle higher trade volumes, which should translate to greater government receipts.

According to the command, officers have been briefed ahead of a forthcoming drive-through scanning regime expected to process up to 150 containers per hour from the quayside—an efficiency boost the command describes as unprecedented in West Africa’s port operations.

Oshoba said the command recently conducted in-house training for newly promoted Deputy and Assistant Comptrollers to align with the directives of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR. He emphasised a dual focus on trade facilitation and revenue protection:

• Full deployment of tools like the One-Stop Shop (OSS) to harmonise procedures and cut dwell time.
  
• Zero-tolerance for leakages, including strict Demand Notices (DNs) to recover shortfalls and vigilance against HS code misclassification aimed at duty evasion.
  

He also engaged truckers, freight forwarders, licensed agents, and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to speed up cargo evacuation, warning that delayed exits slow scanning/examinations and ultimately impede revenue and trade flow.

“We’ve made progress, but we can do better,” Oshoba said, urging continued industry cooperation to consolidate the gains.