The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has exonerated the Nigeria Customs Service of allegations that it failed to remit N62.2 billion into the Federation Account, as contained in the 2019 audit report issued by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
The committee reached the decision on Tuesday after the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, appeared before lawmakers and provided explanations regarding the disputed funds.
The investigative session, chaired by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, focused on 77 audit queries raised against the Customs Service in the 2019 and 2020 reports.
Presenting the query, representatives of the Auditor-General’s office stated that while Customs generated N691.242 billion in revenue in 2017, only N629.23 billion was reportedly remitted to the Federation Account, leaving an alleged shortfall of N62.2 billion.
However, Adeniyi rejected the allegation, explaining that the figure resulted from a misclassification of certain levies collected by Customs on behalf of other government agencies.
According to him, not all revenues collected by the service are meant for remittance into the Federation Account, as some are designated for specific purposes under existing regulations.
“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 told the committee.
He explained that levies imposed on products such as wheat, textiles and wines are earmarked for specific intervention programmes and do not form part of funds payable into the Federation Account.
The Customs boss also addressed two additional audit queries using similar explanations, prompting members of the committee to question why the issues had not been resolved earlier.
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Senator Babangida Hussaini expressed surprise that the matters progressed to the level of a Senate investigation, arguing that they should have been settled during routine reconciliation exercises between auditors and the Customs Service.
“I was in the civil service just like the Chairman of the Committee 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.
In response, Adeniyi noted that the period covered by the audit coincided with strained relations between the Senate and the Customs Service, a situation he suggested may have contributed to the unresolved issues.
After reviewing the submissions, the committee cleared Customs of the N62.2 billion under-remittance allegation and resolved to establish a smaller reconciliation panel to examine the remaining 74 audit queries.
The panel is expected to engage with Customs officials and representatives of the Auditor-General’s office to address outstanding concerns and reconcile discrepancies contained in the audit reports.
The decision marks a significant relief for the Customs Service as lawmakers continue efforts to scrutinise government agencies and strengthen accountability in the management of public finances.