Kano Free Trade Zone says customs has collected about N40bn this year, with 87 firms operating

FTZ News: About N40 billion. That is what the Nigeria Customs Service says it had collected from the Kano Free Trade Zone by August 2026, and 87 companies are now running inside the federal industrial estate.

Director Solomon Topa said 113 enterprises hold licences, but only 87 are operating. The other 26 are still being set up, though some accounts of the briefing put that number at 46, which can’t be right. Nigerian firms, wholly foreign-owned companies and joint ventures all work there, and Topa said the factories no longer mostly ship out raw commodities. They assemble cars. They make electrical cables, leather goods and light electronics, and they process shea butter, vegetable oil and cashew kernels. Officials said the products reach North Africa, other African markets, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The zone covers 262 hectares. Between 3,000 and 5,000 people have direct jobs there, Topa said.

Deputy Director Richard Bassey put the rise in revenue down to closer work with Customs. Manufacturers can bring in raw materials without paying duty up front, and they pay when finished goods go into the Nigerian market. An inventory system leaves production waste out of the calculation.

Customs Deputy Comptroller Isah Bala said the N40 billion comes off a live dashboard that refreshes every 15 minutes, and that the money goes into the federation account. On the day journalists visited, Customs recorded about N167 million in duty. Bassey gave a lower figure, more than N36 billion for January to August, so the two don’t match. Either way the zone is well ahead of last year: Customs said in July that it had collected over N26 billion in the first six months of 2026, about N4 billion more than the zone brought in during all of 2025.

The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority oversees the zone. Officials didn’t say how much of the output is exported, or how many of the remaining licensed firms are likely to start operating. Since duty is paid when goods enter the domestic market, a higher customs figure doesn’t by itself show more exports./.