Budget Office's Q1 2026 report deducts N60.92bn for Customs' 7 per cent collection fee; the FAAC tables for the same months list no Customs deduction

The Budget Office of the Federation's implementation report for January to March 2026 deducts N57.55 billion from customs revenue as a "7% Cost of Collection (Duty, Excise & Fees)" and a further N3.37 billion on special levies, N60.92 billion in all, before it arrives at the revenue the Federation had to share. The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation's own monthly tables for the same three months list no deduction for the Nigeria Customs Service at all. The last Customs line in those tables is for December 2025 revenue, shared in January 2026: N24,005,721,132.06. From January 2026 revenue onwards, the line is gone.

The deduction sits in Table 3.4 on page 22 of the Budget Office report, which gives "OAGF and BOF, 2026" as its source. Line 27 puts first-quarter customs revenues at N822.08 billion and line 28 puts special levies paid into the Federation Account at N48.15 billion. Lines 36 and 37 deduct N57.55 billion and N3.37 billion. Each is exactly 7 per cent of the line it is charged on: 822.08 x 0.07 = 57.55 and 48.15 x 0.07 = 3.37. The same formula runs through every column of the table. For the first quarter of 2025 the report deducts N63.40 billion and N5.44 billion, 7 per cent of N905.69 billion and N77.66 billion, and the 2026 budget column carries N363.00 billion and N71.57 billion, 7 per cent of the budgeted N5,185.73 billion and N1,022.36 billion.

The Accountant-General's tables record what the Federation Account Allocation Committee paid out each month. Table I of each monthly report lists every beneficiary of the month's revenue, from the Federal Government, states and councils to the agencies paid for collecting it. In the table for December 2025 revenue, shared in January 2026, row 5 reads "Cost of Collection - NCS": N24,005,721,132.06 from the statutory account and N3,842,638,032.49 from VAT, N27,848,359,164.55 in total. Across the twelve monthly tables for 2025 revenue, the statutory-account deductions for Customs add up to N276,215,432,680.47, an average of about N23.02 billion a month, ranging from N13,488,930,164.85 for November to N28,023,881,102.44 for January.

The table for January 2026 revenue, shared in February 2026, has no such row. Its numbering runs from row 4, the 13% Derivation Fund, straight to row 6, "Cost of Collections - FIRS", at N44,163,848,419.37 from the statutory account and N43,326,423,341.76 from VAT, and row 7, "Cost of Collections - NUPRC", at N21,442,200,201.06. Row 5, where Customs stood a month earlier, is not there.

The tables for February and March 2026 revenue, shared in March and April, list two collecting agencies: the Nigeria Revenue Service, which replaced the Federal Inland Revenue Service this year, and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. Customs does not appear. The tables for April to July 2026 revenue show no 7 per cent line for Customs either. From June revenue they carry a "Refund to NCS on Non Import VAT Cost of Collections" of N4,916,825,321.00, and the table for July revenue adds a "2% VAT Cost of Collection NSC" of N3,913,938,642.74; both are paid from the VAT column, not from customs duty.

Customs has described the same change. At a stakeholder meeting in Lagos on 21 July 2025 its Comptroller-General, Adewale Adeniyi, said that once a charge of 4 per cent of the free-on-board value of imports took effect, "the 7% cost of collection currently charged will also be completely removed", along with the 1 per cent Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme levy. In March 2026, after the February tables were published, the service's spokesman, Abdullahi Maiwada, was reported as saying: "What we operate now is four per cent of the Free-on-Board value of imports under the financing arrangement for the service," and that Customs no longer takes the 7 per cent. The Budget Office report does not mention the change.

On other lines the report and the tables agree to the last decimal the report prints, which also shows that they cover the same months. The report's first-quarter collection costs for the revenue service, N101.84 billion on company income tax, stamp duties and capital gains (line 32) and N96.64 billion on VAT (line 33), match the Accountant-General's tables for January, February and March 2026 revenue: 44,163,848,419.37 + 26,737,152,540.14 + 30,942,640,842.42 = N101,843,641,801.93, and 43,326,423,341.76 + 26,738,012,784.43 + 26,576,995,891.60 = N96,641,432,017.79. For 2025 the Customs figures matched too: the tables for January, February and March 2025 revenue deduct 28,023,881,102.44 + 20,970,818,866.07 + 19,839,784,184.39 = N68,834,484,152.90 for Customs, and the report's two 7 per cent lines for that quarter add to 63.40 + 5.44 = N68.84 billion.

The upstream regulator's line does not match in either year. Line 15 of the report, "NUPRC 2.5% Cost of Collection", gives N45.93 billion for the first quarter of 2026. The Accountant-General's tables give 21,442,200,201.06 + 23,826,876,328.55 + 23,564,460,957.39 = N68,833,537,487.00, which is N22.90 billion more, and the February table adds a "Refund of Shortfall Cost of Collection to NUPRC January, 2026" of N111,033,421.78. For the first quarter of 2025 the report gives N45.84 billion and the tables N73,338,108,151.17. Neither document explains the difference. Nor does 2.5 per cent of the four revenue lines the label names, which add to 1,529.46 + 6.22 + 115.48 + 10.34 = N1,661.50 billion, produce either figure: it would be N41.54 billion.

The two lines move the report's totals in opposite directions. Line 40 puts net non-oil revenue at N4,481.80 billion: 4,913.74 of gross non-oil revenue less 100.00 of tax refunds, 101.84 and 96.64 of revenue service costs, 72.48 for the North East Development Commission, 0.05 for the Police Trust Fund and the 57.55 and 3.37 charged for Customs. Without the Customs lines it would be N4,542.72 billion. Line 18 puts net oil revenue at N2,533.98 billion after N45.93 billion for the upstream regulator; with the N68.83 billion in the Accountant-General's tables it would be N2,511.08 billion. Taken together, the report's main Federation Account pool of N4,719.27 billion would be N38.02 billion higher, at N4,757.29 billion. That is arithmetic on these two lines only; it does not reconcile the report's other figures with the monthly tables.

The report does not present itself as final. Its PDF file, created on 2 November 2026, carries the title "2026 First Quarter Budget Implementation Report, Structurally and Copy Edited" in its properties, and its subject field reads: "Structural editing and copy editing only; technical reconciliation remains outstanding." The revenue it reports as collected, the N822.08 billion of customs revenue among it, is not in question here. The difference lies in the deductions taken from that revenue.

The documents do not establish why the Budget Office applied the 7 per cent formula to 2026 revenue, or whether it intends to correct the table. Nor do they show any payment to Customs outside the monthly tables; its spokesman says it no longer takes one. A deduction that appears in one government document and not in another is a reconciliation gap, not missing money, and nothing in these records suggests wrongdoing by the Budget Office, the Accountant-General, Customs or the upstream regulator. Neither the Budget Office nor the Office of the Accountant-General was asked for comment before publication; the figures above are their own, set against each other.

What this rests on

Three sets of primary records, read for this report: the Budget Office of the Federation's 2026 First Quarter Budget Implementation Report (52 pages, PDF created 2 November 2026; Table 3.4 on printed page 22 and Table 3.3 on page 19); the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation's monthly FAAC disbursement reports, Table I, for December 2025 revenue (shared January 2026) and for January, February and March 2026 revenue (shared February, March and April 2026), with the tables for April to July 2026 revenue checked for any Customs line; and Table I for every month of 2025 revenue (shared February 2025 to January 2026). Arithmetic re-done: 822.08 x 0.07 = 57.5456, printed 57.55; 48.15 x 0.07 = 3.3705, printed 3.37; 57.55 + 3.37 = 60.92. Q1 2025: 905.69 x 0.07 = 63.40 and 77.66 x 0.07 = 5.44, total 68.84; budget 5,185.73 x 0.07 = 363.00 and 1,022.36 x 0.07 = 71.57. FAAC Customs (statutory column) for 2025 revenue, January to December: 28,023,881,102.44 + 20,970,818,866.07 + 19,839,784,184.39 + 25,065,677,400.18 + 25,159,404,336.29 + 22,070,319,997.09 + 24,706,029,235.10 + 22,527,671,805.82 + 24,437,515,413.56 + 25,919,679,042.62 + 13,488,930,164.85 + 24,005,721,132.06 = 276,215,432,680.47, average 23,017,952,723.37. December 2025 revenue: 24,005,721,132.06 + 3,842,638,032.49 = 27,848,359,164.55. First quarter 2025 revenue: 28,023,881,102.44 + 20,970,818,866.07 + 19,839,784,184.39 = 68,834,484,152.90 against the report's 63.40 + 5.44 = 68.84. Revenue service, first quarter 2026 revenue: statutory 44,163,848,419.37 + 26,737,152,540.14 + 30,942,640,842.42 = 101,843,641,801.93 (report 101.84); VAT 43,326,423,341.76 + 26,738,012,784.43 + 26,576,995,891.60 = 96,641,432,017.79 (report 96.64). Upstream regulator: 21,442,200,201.06 + 23,826,876,328.55 + 23,564,460,957.39 = 68,833,537,487.00 (with the 111,033,421.78 shortfall refund, 68,944,570,908.78) against the report's 45.93, a difference of 22.90; Q1 2025 22,645,206,371.96 + 25,961,857,923.68 + 24,731,043,855.53 = 73,338,108,151.17 against 45.84, a difference of 27.50. Label base 1,529.46 + 6.22 + 115.48 + 10.34 = 1,661.50; 2.5 per cent = 41.54. Report totals: net non-oil 4,913.74 - 100.00 - 101.84 - 96.64 - 72.48 - 0.05 - 57.55 - 3.37 = 4,481.81 (printed 4,481.80); 4,481.80 + 60.92 = 4,542.72. Net oil 2,579.91 - 45.93 = 2,533.98; 2,533.98 - 22.90 = 2,511.08. Main pool 2,533.98 + 2,185.29 = 4,719.27; 4,719.27 + 60.92 - 22.90 = 4,757.29, a net 38.02. Report figures in N billion; FAAC figures in naira as printed.

What this does not establish

Why the Budget Office applied the 7 per cent Customs formula to 2026 revenue after the Accountant-General's tables stopped showing the deduction, and whether a corrected table will follow; the report's own file properties say technical reconciliation remains outstanding. Whether any payment to Customs for cost of collection was made outside the monthly FAAC tables; Customs says it now relies on the 4 per cent free-on-board charge, but that statement was reported by the press, not published by Customs in a document read for this report, and the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 was not read for this report. When the 4 per cent charge began to be collected, and whether it was collected in August to December 2025, months for which the tables still show the 7 per cent deduction (N110,379,517,558.91 for August to December 2025 revenue). Why the report's figure for the upstream regulator's cost of collection differs from the tables in both 2025 and 2026, and what rate is applied; the report's label changed from 4.0 per cent in its third-quarter 2025 edition to 2.5 per cent in this one. Whether the report's other revenue and deduction lines reconcile with the monthly tables; only the cost-of-collection lines were tested. Nothing in the records suggests wrongdoing, and none is alleged. The Budget Office and the Office of the Accountant-General were not asked for comment.