Legislature
Nigerian Senate Clears Customs of N62.2bn Under-Remittance Query
The Nigerian Senate, through its Public Accounts Committee (SPAC), has cleared the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) of a N62.
The committee, which conducted an investigative session on all 77 financial infraction queries raised against the Customs Service in the 2019 and 2020 audit reports, also resolved to establish a small committee to reconcile the remaining 76 queries.
The Customs Service had a smooth appearance before the committee following what members described as convincing responses provided by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, to queries one, two and three presented by a representative of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
At the session, the representative of the Auditor-General, acting on the directive of the committee chairman, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe North), informed the Customs CG that while the agency generated N691.242 billion in revenue in 2017, only N629.23 billion was remitted, leaving an alleged balance of N62.2 billion unremitted to the Federation Account.
Responding, Adeniyi explained that the N62.2 billion classified as unremitted or under-remitted in the 2019 audit report represented levies collected by the Customs Service on behalf of other agencies and were therefore not meant for remittance into the Federation Account.
“The under-remittance of N62.2 billion leveled against Customs in the 2019 audit report was wrongly arrived at through the misclassification of levies collected.
“While some of the levies are collected and remitted into the Federation Account, others, such as those on local production of wheat, textiles and wines, are not meant for the Federation Account. These accounted for the alleged unremitted N62.2 billion,” he said.
The Customs CG also provided similar explanations regarding queries two and three, prompting a member of the committee, Senator Babangida Hussaini (Jigawa North-West), to question why the issues had progressed to the stage of a Senate investigation.
“I was in the civil service, just like the committee chairman, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, before venturing into politics. Queries one, two and three should have been resolved at the reconciliation stage with the auditors and not allowed to get to this level,” Hussaini said.
In response, the Customs boss reminded committee members that the years under review coincided with a period of strained relations between the Senate and the Customs Service.
Based on the explanations provided, the committee resolved to set up a small reconciliation committee to engage with the Customs Service on issues raised in the remaining 74 queries.
