Senate Clears Customs of N62.2bn Under-Remittance Allegation, Moves to Reconcile 76 Audit Queries

The Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) has cleared the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) of a N62.2 billion under-remittance allegation raised in the 2019 audit report of the Auditor-General of the Federation.

The decision followed an investigative session held on Tuesday by the committee with the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, over 77 financial queries contained in the 2019 and 2020 audit reports.

After reviewing the first three queries and listening to explanations from the Customs leadership, the committee concluded that the N62.2 billion figure was the result of a misclassification of revenue collections and not an amount withheld from the Federation Account.

The committee subsequently resolved to constitute a smaller reconciliation panel to examine and resolve the remaining 76 audit queries involving the service.

At the hearing chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe North), the Auditor-General’s representative informed the committee that Customs recorded revenue collection of N691.242 billion in 2017 but remitted N629.23 billion to the Federation Account, leaving a difference of N62.2 billion described in the audit report as unremitted funds.

Providing clarification, Comptroller-General Adeniyi said the disputed amount represented levies collected by Customs on behalf of other agencies and funds that were not intended for payment into the Federation Account.

He said the query was triggered by an incorrect classification of the various categories of levies collected by the service.

“The under-remittance of N62.2 billion levelled against Customs in the 2019 audit report was wrongly arrived at through misclassification of levies collected,” Adeniyi explained.

He noted that while certain levies collected by Customs are statutory revenues payable into the Federation Account, others, including levies associated with local production of wheat, textiles and wines, are allocated for specific purposes and do not fall under Federation Account remittances.

The Customs chief also provided explanations on the second and third queries raised by the Auditor-General’s office, which the committee found satisfactory.

Following the session, Senator Babangida Hussaini (Jigawa North-West) questioned why the issues were not resolved earlier through reconciliation between Customs and audit officials before reaching the committee stage.

“I was in the civil service just like the chairman of this committee before venturing into politics. Queries one, two and three should have been trashed out at reconciliation level with the auditors and not allowed to get to this stage,” he said.

Responding, Adeniyi explained that the audit period coincided with a time of strained relations between Customs and the National Assembly, which may have contributed to the prolonged nature of the issues.

The committee, led by Dankwambo, thereafter ruled that the N62.2 billion query had been satisfactorily addressed and ordered that the remaining issues be subjected to further reconciliation.

The special committee to be set up by SPAC will work with officials of the Nigeria Customs Service and representatives of the Auditor-General’s office to harmonise records and resolve the outstanding queries.

The Senate’s action is expected to provide further clarity on the revenue management practices of the Customs Service and bring closure to the audit concerns raised against the agency.