Senate Committee Clears Customs of N62.2 Billion Under-Remittance
By Bashir Rabe Mani in Sokoto
The Senate Public Accounts Committee has cleared the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, of an alleged N62.2 billion under-remittance contained in the 2019 Audit Report of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
The committee reached the decision during an investigative session on 77 audit queries relating to alleged financial infractions by the Customs Service in the 2019 and 2020 audit reports.
The meeting was attended by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi.
Following explanations provided by the Customs leadership, the committee also resolved to establish a small reconciliation committee to review the remaining 76 audit queries.
During the session, the representative of the Auditor-General informed the committee that Customs generated N691.242 billion in revenue in 2017 but remitted N629.23 billion into the Federation Account, leaving an alleged outstanding balance of N62.2 billion.
Responding to the query, the Comptroller-General explained that the amount identified as under-remittance consisted largely of levies collected on behalf of other government agencies and funds that were not required to be paid into the Federation Account.
He said the figure resulted from the classification of various levies as part of Customs revenue, noting that while some collections were payable into the Federation Account, others, including certain levies on local production of wheat, textiles and wines, were designated for other purposes and therefore excluded from federation revenue remittances.
The Customs boss provided similar explanations on the second and third audit queries, prompting members of the committee to question why the issues were not resolved during the reconciliation stage with auditors before reaching the level of legislative investigation.
Senator Babangida Hussaini observed that the matters appeared straightforward and should have been addressed through administrative reconciliation between Customs officials and auditors.
In response, the Comptroller-General noted that the period under review coincided with a strained relationship between the National Assembly and the Nigeria Customs Service.
Satisfied with the explanations on the initial queries, the committee resolved to set up a reconciliation team to work with Customs officials on the remaining audit issues and report back for further consideration.
