Senate Clears Customs of N62.2bn Audit Infraction

The Senate Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Ibrahim Dankwambo, has cleared the Nigeria Customs Service of allegations concerning a N62.2 billion infraction from a 2019 audit report. The Auditor General's report raised questions about funds that were not remitted to the federal account.

Dr. Bashir Adewal Adeniyi, the Comptroller General of Customs, responded to 77 audit queries, explaining that the discrepancies arose from misclassifications and misunderstandings about the nature of customs collections.

The committee agreed that the revenue collected on behalf of third-party agencies should not be treated as federal account receipts. The Senate also noted that the customs service is working towards digitizing its revenue collection processes to ensure transparency.

The committee unanimously agreed to clear the customs service of the N62.2 billion query, with further legislative action planned to address the remaining 76 audit queries.