By Obiabin Onukwugha
The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, says it recorded a decline in the volume of imports for the first quarter of 2024.
The NCS said during the period it processed a total of 311,492 single goods declarations for imports. It said, this indicates a decline compared to the total volume of 327,491 processed during the same period in 2023 and 403,233 processed in 2022.
Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi revealed this during a first quarter press briefing on Trade Facilitation on Monday.
The NCS boss said the agency was working towards streamlining processes that will minimise bottlenecks and optimise efficiency at the ports across Nigeria.
He noted the challenges in carrying out the customs mandate, but said trade facilitation remains the central focus of the NCS operations.
Adeniyi said: “Trade Facilitation remains a central focus of our operations. In the first quarter despite all the inherent challenges we have diligently worked towards streamlining processes, minimising bottlenecks and optimising efficiency across our ports to ensure seamless trade transactions.
“In the first quarter, Customs processed a total of 311,492 single goods declarations for imports which reflects the volume of import transactions handled.
“This figure, however indicates a decrease compared to the total volume of 327,491 processed during the same period in 2023 and 403,233 processed in 2022.”
The customs boss also informed that despite the decline in imports, the agency recorded increase in export activities during the period under review.
He said during this period, a total of 10,706 single goods declaration were processed in 2024 when compared to 9,752 transactions in 2023, representing a 10.6 percent growth in export activities.
Adeniyi reiterated the agency’s resolve to grow the Nigerian economy through non-oil exports.
“One other ways we measure our efficiency in trade facilitation is the number of export transactions that we process. During this period, a total of 10,706 single goods declaration were processed in 2024 when we compared it to 9,752 transactions in 2023.
This represents a 10.6 percent growth in export activities
“Notably, a significant portion of this growth occured in January with 4,067 transactions processed in 2024 when we compared it to 3,352 in 2023, which marks a 29.69 percent increase.
“We are particularly interested in the growth of a.non-oil export sector, aligning with the priorities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration and initiative pursuit by Customs in recent times,” he stated.