The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has recorded a decline of 15,999 (about 5%) in the volume of Single Goods Declarations (SGDs) for imports in the first quarter of 2024.
The total volume declined from 327,492 SDGs to 311,492 between Q1 2024 and Q1 2023.
According to a document released by the agency and seen by TheWitness on Wednesday, there was also a bigger decline of 91,741 (about 23%) when compared to Q1 2022.
The document read:
The NCS blamed the fluctuating import duty for the major reason for the decline in the volume of SGDs.
According to the NCS, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued about 28 different import duty rates in the first three months of this year.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, noted that the NCS encountered major challenges with the fluctuations of the CBN exchange rate regime for import duty, which disrupted its activities.
Adeniyi said:
He, however, noted that the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, has initiated periodic consultations with the apex bank to mitigate the potential impact of exchange rate fluctuations on import activities.
The NCS noted that a total of 10,786 SGDs were processed in 2024 compared to 9,752 transactions in 2023, representing a 10.60% growth in export activities.
The agency also recorded about N1.3 trillion in revenue for Q1 2024, an increase of 122.35% compared to the figure for last year.
A breakdown shows that it earned over N390.82 billion in January, over N450.21 billion in February, and over N217.67 billion in March.
