Senate panel clears Customs of N62.2bn under-remittance claim

A Nigerian Senate committee has cleared the Nigeria Customs Service of allegations that it failed to remit 62.2 billion naira to the government's central treasury. The decision came during an investigative hearing on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, where lawmakers accepted the agency's explanation that the funds were misclassified in an official audit report.

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts vacated the query after hearing from the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi. The allegation stemmed from the 2019 audit report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, which stated that while Customs collected over 691 billion naira in revenue in 2017, only about 629 billion naira was remitted to the Federation Account, leaving a 62.2 billion naira shortfall.

Adeniyi explained that the disputed sum consisted of various levies collected on behalf of other government agencies, which by law are not meant for the Federation Account. He specified that levies related to local production of items like wheat, textiles, and wines fall into this separate category. The committee found this clarification satisfactory and dismissed the allegation of under-remittance.