The Nigerian Customs Service, (NCS) has revealed that Nigeria lost about ₦1.3 trillion in 2023 due to the actions of the Buhari-led administration which gave concessions and tax waivers for investors.
This was disclosed by Adewale Adeniyi, the Comptroller General (CG) of the NCS during a public hearing on the 2024–2026 medium-term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy organised by the senate joint committees at the National Assembly.
The Customs boss who was represented by Mba Musa, Deputy Comptroller General of the NCS, noted that without the waivers and tax concessions granted to some investors, the service would have generated more income for Nigeria’s consolidated revenue fund in 2023.
Over the years, the Buhari administration has granted series of tax waivers to investors and importers.
In 2020, the Buhari-led administration granted import waivers to importers of medical equipments during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Presidency then, had explained that the waivers were part of the fiscal policy measures introduced by the Nigerian government to combat the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Within January 2019 and December 2020, the FG through the NCS, granted waivers on imported goods worth ₦992.9 billion.
According to the 2022-2024 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, in 2019, tax waivers of ₦213.1 billion was recorded and taxes worth ₦779.7 billion waived in 2020.
The amount increased to ₦16.76 trillion from 2019 to 2021 according to the Tax Expenditure Statement (TES) reports in the Medium-Term Expenditure and Fiscal Strategy documents.
At least 46 companies had benefitted from various tax incentives and duty waiver schemes as of the end of 2021 including Dangote, Lafarge, Honeywell and 43 others.
The Chairman of the Joint Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa after the NCS’ revelation, had requested the senate to conduct an investigation into the waivers and concessions granted by the previous administration.
“By now we shouldn’t be talking about concession for cement manufacturers, we should not even be talking about sugar importation, We should not deny ourselves the revenues that we should generate to make our economy vibrant.” Sani Musa said
The Senate, while agreeing that the NCS should have met their projected target in the absence of waivers, also noted that the waivers would be reviewed and the necessary recommendations made.