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The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has cleared the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) of allegations that it failed to remit N62.2 billion to the Federation Account, following an investigation into findings contained in a 2019 report by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
The decision was taken at 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’s observations.
The committee had examined 77 separate audit questions involving the Customs Service from the 2019 and 2020 audit reports. After reviewing the explanation of the first set of issues, the senators agreed to reject the N62.2 billion allegation and set up a reconciliation panel to resolve the remaining issues.
Presiding over the hearing, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, who chairs the committee, led lawmakers through the audit issues raised by officials representing the Auditor General.
The disputed demand stems from Customs revenue figures recorded in 2017. According to auditors, the agency earned N691.242 billion during the year but only remitted N629.23 billion to the Federation Account, resulting in a shortfall of N62.2 billion.
In response, Adeniyi argued that the alleged discrepancies arose from misclassification of revenue collected by Customs on behalf of other government agencies and special intervention programs.
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“The under-remittance of N62.2 billion attributed to Customs in the 2019 audit report was incorrectly obtained through misclassification of levies collected.
“While most of the levies are to be collected and remitted to the federation account, some others such as levies on local production of wheat, textiles and wine, etc., do not make it into the federation account, the grand total of which is N62.2 billion which is alleged to have not been deposited,” he said.
The Customs chief provided similar clarification regarding two additional audit observations, prompting lawmakers to question why the issues were not resolved earlier through regular engagement between auditors and the agency.
Expressing concern over the issue, Senator Babangida Hussaini noted that disputed issues are usually resolved before reaching the National Assembly.
“I was a civil servant like the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwabo (Gombe North), before entering politics. Questions one, two and three that you responded to should have been disposed of at the level of reconciliation with the auditor and should not have reached this stage,” he said.
However, Adeniyi believes that the circumstances surrounding the period under review may have contributed to the increase in this problem. He recalled that relations between the Customs Service and the Senate at that time were far from cordial, a factor he said may have complicated the settlement process.
After considering the explanation, the committee formally dropped the allegations of underdelivery and decided that a smaller technical panel would work with Customs officials to reconcile and review the remaining 74 audit questions.
These results mark a significant relief for the Customs Service as lawmakers continue to conduct oversight of public agencies regarding financial accountability and compliance with audit recommendations. The reconciliation panel is expected to present its findings regarding unresolved issues at a later date.
