Licensed Customs Agents Kick Against NCS Proposal to Raise License Fees

The Licensed Customs Agents have expressed concerns over the Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS) proposal to increase the Customs Agents License fees.

They described the current N200,000 annual renewal levy as an “overburdened” and “outrageous” charge that “contravenes international best practice” and “threatens to collapse their profession”.

The agents, therefore, called on President Bola Tinubu to halt the proposed increase. They based their appeal because the renewal fee of N200,000 and the new registration fee of N500,000 far exceed comparable fees charged by other professional bodies operating in the maritime sector within the country and in other countries like Ghana.

In a petition to the Presidency, the National President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Lucky Amiwero, stressed that such costs, combined with additional charges of N15,000 for each Customs Area Command, could threaten the livelihood of many in the profession.

“The practitioner operating a Customs Agents License in Nigeria is currently overburdened with outrageous fees of N200,000 yearly renewal, with an additional Form C30 charge of N15,000 for each Customs Area Command.

“Any further increase will affect 90 per cent of the workforce in the profession nationwide, and could lead to a complete shutdown of most licensed agency businesses struggling to survive in this difficult economic situation,” Amiwero said.

“This stands in stark contrast to Nigeria, where customs agents are charged half a million naira for new licenses and N200,000 for renewals,” Amiwero emphasised, adding that the disparity undermines Nigeria’s competitiveness in regional trade facilitation.

The petition also highlighted disparities between customs agents’ license fees and those of other Nigerian professionals.

Drawing comparison with other professional bodies, Amiwero said accountants under the aegis of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) pay N25,000 annually for license renewal; Medical doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) pay between N20,000 and N40,000 depending on their years of experience; Lawyers, under the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), pay between N5,000 and N50,000 annually, depending on their post-call years.

“These figures show how disproportionately high the charges for customs agents are when compared with other critical professions in the country,” Amiwero argued.

He stressed that the license fees are not revenue instruments but are meant to ensure procedural competence in areas such as harmonised system classification, rules of origin, trade policy interpretation, valuation agreements, and treaty compliance.

“The customs agents license fees and bond are for procedural and process performance, not tied to revenue but performance,” Amiwero said.

He further argued that “the Licensed Customs Agency Profession falls under small-scale business that is indigenous in nature, self-sustaining without government assistance,” adding there is no formal training provided to Licensed Customs Agents by the Nigeria Customs Service despite evolving processes that require constant capacity building.

The NCMDLCA president maintained that the high fees contradict the World Customs Organisation (WCO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), and United Nations recommendations on capacity building for trade facilitators.

Industry stakeholders fear that the continued imposition of high licensing fees will decimate the indigenous customs agency profession, which is largely made up of small and medium-scale enterprises. Amiwero warned that the policy could lead to mass unemployment, increased insecurity around ports, and the concentration of customs agency businesses “in the hands of very few friends of the Service.”

Meanwhile, stakeholders have noted that as the country pushes reforms to achieve greater efficiency and compliance in import-export procedures, addressing the grievances of Licensed Customs Agents—key players in the maritime trade ecosystem—may prove critical to sustaining the gains and preventing disruption in port activities and trade facilitation.