The Nigeria Customs Service plans to spend a whopping N14.39bn on brand-new luxury vehicles for its senior officers in 2025. This expenditure is part of a broader N35.27bn budget for acquiring 579 official vehicles, according to the service’s proposed appropriation bill obtained by our correspondent on Wednesday. A significant share of these vehicles is reserved for top-ranking officers. The priciest models are earmarked for those holding the positions of Comptroller, Assistant Comptroller-General, and Deputy Comptroller-General, with unit costs ranging between N44m and N75m. Among the brands to be purchased are BYD hybrids, CHANGAN, MAXUS D90, NISSAN MG5, MIKANO, and NORD. The detailed breakdown shows allocations such as 20 CHANGAN CS95 SUVs for ACGs at N68m each, amounting to N1.36bn; 15 MAXUS D90 SUVs for DCGs at N70m each, totaling N1.05bn; and 20 QIN BYD Hybrid sedans for ACGs at N65m each, totaling N1.3bn. Also included are 15 HAN BYD Hybrid sedans for DCGs at N75m each, totaling N1.125bn; and 180 sedans for Comptrollers—including NORD C3, MIKANO CHAGGAN EADO, and NISSAN MG5—priced at N44.625m each, amounting to N9.55bn. Additionally, the budget covers 50 NORD TUSK trucks, 50 NISSAN NAVARA trucks, 100 JIM 4WD trucks, and 10 30-seater buses for administrative and operational use. The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from civil society groups, who labelled it wasteful and insensitive, especially amid the country’s prevailing economic hardship. Earlier this year, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, reported that the service had seized 397 vehicles valued at N5.64bn in 2024, alongside thousands of bags of rice and other contraband, in efforts to protect local industries and enforce import laws. In 2023, the service confiscated 3,491 vehicles, with a duty-paid value of N2bn.