Lawmakers at the Senate
Senate Committee on Public Accounts has cleared the Nigeria Customs Service of allegations that it failed to remit ₦62.2 billion to the Federation Account.
The decision followed an investigative hearing involving the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, over 77 audit queries contained in the 2019 and 2020 reports of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
Lawmakers accepted Customs’ explanation that the disputed ₦62.2 billion was made up of levies collected on behalf of other government agencies and was not meant for the Federation Account.
Adeniyi told the committee that the amount was wrongly classified as unremitted revenue in the audit report.
He explained that while some levies collected by Customs are paid into the Federation Account, others are designated for separate accounts under existing regulations.
The committee also considered the second and third audit queries and described the explanations provided by the Customs Service as satisfactory.
Some senators questioned why the matter reached the National Assembly, arguing that it should have been resolved during routine reconciliation between auditors and Customs officials.
Following the hearing, the committee set up an ad hoc reconciliation panel to review the remaining 76 audit queries and submit its findings for further legislative consideration.
