Licensed customs agents have urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to establish a committee to review the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Act 2023 and its financing framework, as they believe this would significantly increase the cost of doing business at the ports and contravene international trade facilitation standards.
The National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), in the letter, highlighted the financial framework as captured embedded in sections 18, 24 and 44 of the act, particular the four per cent free-on-board (FOB) levy on imports, cost-based user fees, advance ruling fees, special service charges and other multilayered charges under “financing of Customs operations”.
The letter, signed by the National President of NCMDLCA, Lucky Amiwero, expressed concern about escalating port costs that undermine trade competitiveness. The Vice President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Ministers of Finance and Budget and the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) were copied.
The Customs brokers compared Nigeria’s model with Ghana’s, which has adopted a more transparent, cost-efficient and internationally-compliant approach to funding customs operations.
According to the agents, under Ghana’s Export and Import (Amendment) Act 585 of 2000, importers pay an inspection fee capped at one per cent of the total dutiable cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value.
The agents further stated Ghana’s Customs operations are funded from an allocated share of three per cent of total import duty and value-added tax (VAT) collections, while 0.4 per cent is assigned to the customs technology platform.
They said this structure ensures that charges are tied directly to service delivery, simplifies accountability and prevents arbitrary cost escalation.
The agents stressed that Ghana’s model demonstrates how a capped, transparent and proportionate cost structure, coupled with government-managed inspection infrastructure, supports compliance with global standards.
The letter also stated that Nigeria’s current approach is a clear contravention of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Revised Kyoto Convention, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL) Conventions.
According to them, this risks inflating port charges, discouraging investment and eroding the country’s competitive position in regional trade, while also increasing the financial burden on importers, manufacturers and licensed customs agents.
The agents also highlighted Section 59(30) of the Act, which transfers the responsibility for providing and maintaining non-intrusive inspection (NII) scanners from Customs to terminal and warehouse operators.
They stated that, without clear operational guidelines, this shift could create uneven scanner deployment across ports, exacerbate inspection delays, and further inflate costs, contradicting the very principles of trade facilitation.
The agents further called on the President to establish an expert committee to align Nigeria’s customs funding and inspection systems with international best practice, harmonise overlapping agency mandates, and reduce port costs, which are already perceived as the highest in the West and Central Africa sub-regions
“The committee should look at the Nigeria NCS Act 2023 to review the duplication, contradiction and usurping of powers of the Minister and other agencies overlapping, that will conflict and affect the process of clearance with others, to harmonise, simplify and minimise port cost,” the letter stated.
