Audit Report: Senate Approves N62.2 billion Remittance to Customs

* Sets up committee for reconciliation of 76 other queries

By Henry Umoru

ABUJA – The Senate has dismissed a query regarding N62.2 billion of under‑remittance that was raised against the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in the 2019 audit report issued by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

The decision was made yesterday by Senator Ibrahim Dankwabo of Gombe North, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Accounts.

The committee had convened to examine all 77 queries related to financial irregularities identified in the 2019 and 2020 audit reports. During the session, the Comptroller‑General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, agreed to form a smaller committee to address the remaining 76 queries.

Customs officials presented what the committee described as convincing answers to the first three queries. A representative of the Auditor General read the relevant passages to the Customs CG, noting that in 2017 Customs collected N691.242 billion in revenue, of which N629.23 billion was remitted to the Federation Account, leaving a balance of N62.2 billion that was reported as under‑remitted.

In response, the Customs CG explained that the N62.2 billion identified as under‑remitted in the 2019 audit was actually the total of levies collected on behalf of other agencies that are not meant for remittance to the Federation Account.

He said, “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—such as those on local production of wheat, textiles, and wines—do not go into the Federation Account. The totality of these levies accounted for the alleged unremitted N62.2 billion.”

Similar explanations were offered for queries two and three, prompting Senator Babangida Hussaini of Jigawa North West to question why the queries had progressed to the committee level.

He remarked, “I was in the civil service just like the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwabo, before venturing into politics. Queries one, two and three that you have responded to are supposed to have been resolved at the reconciliation level with the auditors and not allowed to get to this stage.”

The Customs boss reminded the committee that the years under review were a period when the Senate and Customs had a strained relationship.

Consequently, the committee resolved to establish a small committee to meet with Customs and reconcile the issues raised in the remaining 74 queries.

The post Audit Report: Senate clears Customs of N62.2 billion under remittance appeared first on Vanguard News.