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Almost every dispute an importer has with a Nigerian clearing agent comes down to one number that nobody agreed on in advance: the total amount payable before the container leaves the terminal. Import duty is only the first line of that number. On top of it sit a surcharge, an inspection levy, a community levy, value added tax, terminal handling and whatever demurrage accrues while the paperwork is sorted. This guide walks through the calculation in the order Nigeria Customs Service applies it, names each charge, and closes with a worked example so you can reproduce the arithmetic for your own shipment.
Why the HS code decides everything
The HS code is the starting point because Nigeria's duty rate is attached to the code, not to the product name on your invoice. HS stands for Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System, the international classification maintained by the World Customs Organization. Get the code right and the rate follows automatically; get it wrong and every downstream figure is wrong too.
Nigeria publishes its rates in the Common External Tariff schedule on the Nigeria Customs Service site, and the same data is searchable through the Nigeria Trade Portal and the Nigeria Single Window at trade.gov.ng. You enter the code, the schedule returns the duty rate plus any product specific levy. A supplier in Türkiye will normally quote the code they use for export; treat it as a starting hypothesis and verify it against the Nigerian schedule, because classification disputes are decided by Nigerian customs, not by the exporter.
Classification is also where the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report enters. The PAAR is the document Nigeria Customs Service generates from your lodged declaration in the NICIS II system, confirming the classification and the assessed duty before the goods arrive. No cargo is released without an approved PAAR, and the PAAR cannot be processed without a valid Form M number, so the classification you declare early is the classification you pay on.
Building the CIF value the duty is struck on
Nigerian import duty is assessed on the CIF value: cost of the goods, plus insurance, plus freight to the Nigerian port of entry. If your supplier quoted FOB Mersin or FOB Istanbul, you add ocean freight and the insurance premium to reach CIF. That CIF figure, converted to naira, is the base for the duty percentage and for most of the levies that follow.
Currency conversion is a separate trap. Since a Central Bank of Nigeria circular issued on 23 February 2024 and effective from 26 February 2024, customs assessment uses the foreign exchange closing rate on the date the Form M was opened, and that rate stays fixed through the importation and clearance process. Before that change, Nigeria Customs adjusted its applicable rate frequently, sometimes twice a week, which made duty impossible to budget.
The Form M itself is the Central Bank of Nigeria foreign exchange instrument required for imports above roughly USD 1,000, opened through a Nigerian commercial bank on the importer's behalf. It is generally valid for six months for general goods and twelve months for machinery and equipment. Opening it early has a direct financial consequence now that the exchange rate is locked to its date, so the Form M date deserves as much attention as the shipping schedule.
Nigeria's duty bands under the ECOWAS Common External Tariff
Nigeria applies the ECOWAS Common External Tariff, adopted by member states in October 2013, which sets five duty bands: 0% for essential social goods, 5% for raw materials and capital goods not produced locally, 10% for intermediate products, 20% for finished consumer goods, and 35% for a narrow list of goods protected for industrial development.
In practice most industrial inputs from Türkiye land in the 5% or 10% bands, most finished consumer goods in the 20% band, and the 35% band is reserved for a limited set of tariff lines. Independent tax summaries describe Nigerian import duties as typically ranging from 5% to 35% and assessed with reference to the prevailing HS code, which matches the CET structure. Some lines also carry a separate levy on top of the duty, and the Nigeria Trade Portal duty calculator exposes these as distinct fields, including a National Automotive Council levy applied to the CIF value for vehicles.
Because the band is a property of the tariff line rather than of the shipment, two products that look commercially similar can sit in different bands. The gap between the 5% band and the 20% band on a container worth USD 40,000 runs to several thousand dollars, which is why classification is worth the time it takes to confirm before the goods ship.
The duty percentage is the part everyone quotes and the smallest part of the surprise. What moves the final figure is the stack of levies and VAT computed on top of it, and the terminal charges that accrue while the file is being corrected.
The levies and VAT stacked on top of duty
Four charges typically sit on top of the ad valorem duty in a Nigerian assessment: a surcharge of 7% calculated on the import duty itself, a Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme levy of 1% calculated on the FOB value, an ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme levy of 0.5% calculated on the CIF value, and value added tax of 7.5% calculated on the sum of CIF plus duty plus the other charges.
The 7% surcharge is commonly described as a port development levy, and unlike the others its base is the duty amount rather than the value of the goods, so it scales with the band. VAT in Nigeria has stood at 7.5% since 1 February 2020, when it rose from 5%. The Nigeria Trade Portal calculator lists the components in exactly this shape: import duty as a percentage of CIF, ETLS as a percentage of CIF, surcharge as a percentage of import duty, and VAT as a percentage of the running total.
One item to check before you budget is the 4% Free on Board charge, sometimes labelled FCS or Financing of Customs Service, introduced under section 18(1) of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023. It was enforced from February 2025, withdrawn after industry objections, reintroduced with effect from 4 August 2025, and suspended again in September 2025 by the Federal Ministry of Finance. It was designed to consolidate the 1% CISS levy and collection fees into a single charge, and when it is suspended the 1% CISS applies instead. Confirm which of the two is live on the day your PAAR is issued, because the difference on a USD 50,000 FOB shipment is around USD 1,500.
A worked example, step by step
Take a shipment invoiced at USD 20,000 FOB, with USD 2,500 ocean freight and USD 250 insurance, giving a CIF value of USD 22,750, and assume the HS code falls in the 10% band. The duty is USD 2,275. The 7% surcharge on that duty is roughly USD 159. CISS at 1% of FOB is USD 200. ETLS at 0.5% of CIF is roughly USD 114.
Adding those to CIF gives a VAT base of about USD 25,498, and VAT at 7.5% comes to roughly USD 1,912. Total duty and taxes are therefore about USD 4,660, or close to 20.5% of the CIF value, bringing the value plus government charges to around USD 27,410 before a single naira of terminal cost. Move the same shipment into the 20% band and duty alone rises to USD 4,550, the surcharge to roughly USD 319, and the VAT base to about USD 27,814, pushing total duty and taxes past USD 7,150.
These figures are an illustration of the method, not a quotation. Rates, levies and their bases change with finance acts, customs circulars and ECOWAS decisions, and the 4% FOB episode shows how quickly a component can appear and disappear. Verify every percentage against the tariff schedule in force for your specific HS code on the day of assessment, and treat any calculator output, including this one, as an estimate to be confirmed on the PAAR.
Port charges, demurrage and the real landed cost
Landed cost is the CIF value plus all government charges plus everything the port, the shipping line and the agent charge before the container reaches your warehouse. In Nigeria that typically means terminal handling, shipping line documentation and delivery order fees, agency and clearing fees, inland haulage from Apapa or Tin Can Island, and container deposits that are refunded only after the empty is returned.
Demurrage and detention are the line items that turn a good landing into a bad one. Both are time based, both start after a free period, and both accrue while a file is stuck for reasons that have nothing to do with the goods: a Form M raised late, a classification query on the PAAR, a missing conformity certificate under the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme. The way to control them is to have the classification, the Form M and the conformity documents settled before the vessel sails rather than after it berths.
For the buyer, the practical discipline is to build the landed cost model before asking for prices, so every supplier quote can be converted into a delivered naira figure on the same basis. When a buyer opens a request on Tafric with the HS code, the destination port and the Incoterm stated, suppliers in Türkiye can quote CIF Lagos or CIF Onne directly, which removes the largest single source of ambiguity from the comparison.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate import duty in Nigeria?
Start by confirming the HS code and reading its duty rate from the ECOWAS Common External Tariff schedule published by Nigeria Customs Service. Apply that percentage to the CIF value, which is the cost of goods plus insurance plus freight to the Nigerian port. Then add the 7% surcharge on the duty, the 1% CISS levy on FOB value, the 0.5% ETLS levy on CIF, and finally 7.5% VAT on the running total. Convert to naira at the Central Bank of Nigeria closing rate applicable to your Form M date.
What is the current import duty rate in Nigeria?
There is no single rate. Nigeria applies the ECOWAS Common External Tariff, which has five bands: 0%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 35%, assigned per tariff line according to the HS code. Raw materials and capital goods usually sit at 5% or 10%, finished consumer goods at 20%, and 35% applies to a narrow protected list. Some lines carry an extra product specific levy, so the schedule must be read line by line and rates can change with finance acts and customs circulars.
How can I find the Nigerian customs tariff for a specific HS code?
Nigeria Customs Service publishes the Common External Tariff schedule on customs.gov.ng, and the same data is searchable through the Nigeria Trade Portal and the Nigeria Single Window at trade.gov.ng. Enter the HS code and the schedule returns the duty rate plus any applicable levy for that line. Because classification disputes are resolved by Nigerian customs, verify the code your supplier gives you against the Nigerian schedule rather than relying on the export country classification.
What exchange rate does Nigeria Customs use for import duty?
Since a Central Bank of Nigeria circular of 23 February 2024, effective 26 February 2024, customs assessment uses the foreign exchange closing rate on the date the Form M was opened, and that rate is then held fixed through importation and clearance. This replaced a practice where the applicable rate was adjusted frequently, sometimes twice a week. The rule makes the Form M opening date a financial decision, because it locks the naira value of the duty.
Is the 4% FOB charge still applied on Nigerian imports?
The 4% Free on Board charge, introduced under section 18(1) of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, has had an unstable history. It was enforced from February 2025, withdrawn, reintroduced with effect from 4 August 2025, and suspended again in September 2025 by the Federal Ministry of Finance. It was intended to consolidate the 1% CISS levy and collection fees, and when it is suspended the 1% CISS applies instead. Confirm which charge is live on the day your assessment is issued before you finalise a landed cost.