The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, on Thursday, disowned the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, over the differentials of N28 billion underremitted into the Federation Account in 2015.
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/TheNigerialawyer-WhatsApp-Channel1.jpg")
The Auditor-General of the Federation, Anthony Ayine, had in his Financial Statement for 2015, asked the Accountant General to explain the differentials in the amount remitted by the Customs Service and the figures contained in his own records.
The audited report showed that the Customs remitted N185 billion as against the sum of N157 billion in the Accountant General’s document.
The Accountant General was represented Feyintola Olusegun, a Director in his office.
Appearing before the Senate committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Senator Matthew Uroghide, the Customs boss completely absolved his agency of any wrongdoing, saying the service mode of operations, including remittance, is purely automated.
“For anybody to pointing at us; then there is a problem”, he said.
The Accountant General also came under fire over unpaid domestic loan of N37.8billion borrowed from 10% Rice Level Account for urgent expenditure in 2013.
The Senate Panel questioned why the Accountant General had failed to include the loan in the budget since then.
The Customs Service benefitted N4.5 billion from the said loan.
Other beneficiaries of the unpaid loan are: INEC, PHCN, and NIGCOMSAT.
Meanwhile, the committee queried the Customs boss over failure of the service to remit the five percent of staff wages to the contributory pension fund.
The committee chair said the refusal of the Customs leadership to abide by the Constitutional provisions of the Pension Act, with regards to the pension of personnel, simply means that the retirees of the Service have not been receiving their pensions.
Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe (Kwara Central), a member of the committee, said as a revenue-generating agency, the service had no reason not to remit the five percent of its staff wages to the pension fund.
Responding to the query, Ali said his agency had failed to remit the fund in 2015 because it did not have sufficient funds.
Ali said that the seven percent collection costs which the NCS deducts from revenue collections has not been enough to pay their staff.
He recalled that when he took over as the CG Customs, the agency depended on bailout to carry out its operations.
He said it was until President Muhammadu Buhari approved their inclusion in the Consolidated Salary Structure (CSS) that the NCS began to offset some of its financial commitments.
He however assured that with the inclusion of Customs into the CSS of the federal government, the Service will be able to commence the remittances of backlog of the five percent to PENCOM.
Reimagine your practice with the power of AI “...this is the only Nigerian book I know of on the topic.” — Ohio Books Ltd
Authored by Ben Ijeoma Adigwe, Esq., ACIArb (UK), LL.M, Dip. in Artificial Intelligence, Director, Delta State Ministry of Justice, Asaba, Nigeria.
Bonus:
Get a FREE eBook titled “How to Use the AI in Legalpedia and Law Pavilion” with every purchase.
How to Order: 📞 Call, Text, or WhatsApp: 08034917063 | 07055285878 📧 Email: benadigwe1@gmail.com 🌐 Website: www.benadigwe.com
Ebook Version: Access directly online at: https://selar.com/prv626
______________________________________________________________________ "You Don't Need To Be Rich, You Just Need To Start" — Victoria Ezeigwe, Esq Launches Investment Handbook For Nigerians Starting With ₦5,000
Get your copy today and take the first step toward financial growth:
_______________________________________________________________________ [A MUST HAVE] Evidence Act Demystified With Recent And Contemporary Cases And Materials
_______________________________________________________________________
