On Tuesday, the Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) cleared the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) of a N62.2 billion under-remittance query that was part of the 2019 audit report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF).
During an investigative session with Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, the committee decided to form a smaller panel to address the remaining 76 queries raised against the Service in the 2019 and 2020 audit reports.
The session focused on the first 77 queries concerning alleged financial infractions by Customs. The Auditor-General’s representative, acting on the directive of SPAC Chairman Senator Ibrahim Dankwabo (Gombe North), read Query 1: In 2017, Customs’ total revenue collection stood at N691.242 billion, but only N629.23 billion was remitted, leaving a balance of N62.2 billion allegedly unremitted to the Federation Account.
Adeniyi explained that the N62.2 billion classified as unremitted was a result of a misclassification of levies collected on behalf of other agencies. He stated, “The under-remittance of N62.2 billion leveled against Customs in the 2019 audit report was wrongly arrived at through misclassification of levies collected. While most levies are to be collected and remitted into the Federation Account, others—like those on local production of wheat, textiles, and wines—do not go into the Federation Account. The totality of these accounted for the alleged unremitted N62.2 billion.”
The committee accepted this explanation and cleared Customs of the query. Similar clarifications were provided for Queries 2 and 3, which also satisfied the committee.
Senator Babangida Hussaini (Jigawa North West) questioned why Customs allowed such queries to reach the investigative stage, noting that they should have been resolved during reconciliation with auditors. Adeniyi reminded the committee that the years under review were a period of strained relations between the Senate and the Nigeria Customs Service.
Based on Customs’ explanations, SPAC decided to set up a small panel to meet with the Service to reconcile the issues raised in the remaining 74 queries. The committee expects the reconciliation panel to expedite the resolution of the outstanding audit queries without further delay.