The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has exonerated the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) of allegations that it failed to remit N62.2 billion to the Federation Account, following an investigation into findings contained in the 2019 report of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
The decision was reached during a public hearing on Tuesday after the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, defended the agency’s financial records and addressed concerns raised by lawmakers over the audit observations.
The committee had been examining 77 separate audit queries involving the Customs Service from the 2019 and 2020 audit reports. After reviewing explanations on the first set of issues, senators agreed to dismiss the N62.2 billion allegation and set up a reconciliation panel to resolve the remaining matters.
Presiding over the hearing, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, who chairs the committee, led lawmakers through the audit concerns presented by officials representing the Auditor-General.
The disputed query stemmed from Customs revenue figures recorded in 2017. According to auditors, the agency generated N691.242 billion during the year but remitted only N629.23 billion into the Federation Account, creating what appeared to be a shortfall of N62.2 billion.
In response, Adeniyi argued that the alleged discrepancy arose from an incorrect classification of revenues collected by Customs on behalf of other government agencies and special intervention programmes.
“The under remittance of N62.2billion leveled against Customs in the 2019 audit report was wrongly arrived at through misclassification of levies collected.
“While most of the levies are to be collected and remitted into the federation account, others like the ones on local production of wheat, textiles and wines, etc., do not go into the federation account, the totality of which accounted for the alleged unremitted N62.2 billion,” he said.
The Customs boss offered similar clarifications regarding two additional audit observations, prompting lawmakers to question why the issues had not been settled earlier through routine engagement between auditors and the agency.
Expressing concern over the matter, Senator Babangida Hussaini noted that the disputed issues should ordinarily have been resolved before reaching the National Assembly.
“I was in the civil service just like the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwabo (Gombe North), before venturing into politics. Queries one, two and three that you have responded to were supposed to have been trashed out at the reconciliation level with the auditors and not allowed to get to this stage,” he said.
Adeniyi, however, suggested that the circumstances surrounding the period under review may have contributed to the escalation of the issues. He recalled that relations between the Customs Service and the Senate at the time were far from cordial, a factor he implied may have complicated the resolution process.
After considering the explanations, the committee formally dropped the under-remittance allegation and resolved that a smaller technical panel would work with Customs officials to reconcile and review the remaining 74 audit queries.
The outcome marks a significant relief for the Customs Service as lawmakers continue scrutiny of public agencies over financial accountability and compliance with audit recommendations. The reconciliation panel is expected to submit its findings on the outstanding issues at a later date.
(Ripples)
