Senate approves N238bn Customs budget without audited accounts

.As Lawan reads riot act to MDAs over non – audit of account

Despite open condemnation by some senators, the Senate on Tuesday appropriated a total sum of N238, 149,325,832.70 kobo to the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) for the 2020 fiscal year.

Passage of the budget was not without little resistance from some of the lawmakers who queried the Nigerian Customs Service, as a revenue collection agency, to be drawing money from the Federation Account.

It took the intervention of the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, to overlook seeming lapses pointed out in the report of Sen. Francis Alimekhena’s Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs presented for consideration.

UTME Registration: low turnout in Kwara CBT centres

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Francis Alimikhena, in his presentation, said out of the total expenditure for the year 2020, N98.61 billion representing 41.41 percent is for Personnel cost; N15.95 billion representing 6.70 percent is for Overhead Cost; and N123.59 billion representing 51.89 percent is for Capital Cost.

According to the lawmaker, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has a revenue framework of N1.5 trillion to be remitted to the Federation account; and N178.7 billion to Non-Federation account for the 2020 fiscal year.

He further disclosed that the NCS in 2020 will undertake the recruitment of three thousand two hundred (3,200) officers and men, as well as implement the Customs Service Salary structure for 15,892 officers and men of the Service.

Hardly hard Senator Alimikhena (Edo North) presented the report when the chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Adeola Solomon (Lagos West), picked hole in the report.

He expressed concern over the 2% VAT shares collected by Customs in addition to funding from the federation account.

Adeola said the Custom, as a revenue collection agency, should not be drawing fund from the federation account under whatever guise.

Sen. Gabriel Suswam (Benue North East) said the Alimikhena committee’s report was not comprehensive enough and emphatically said the NCS budget may be rejected “if certain explanations were not provided”.

He went ahead to ask if the report was harmonised with that of the House of Representatives, to which Alimikhena answered in the affirmative.

Also, Senator James Manager (Delta South) said “there are some sore areas which must be cleared. The report is too scanty”.

He opposed the drawing of revenue from the federation account by Customs despite earning seven percent of revenue generated by the agency.

Sen. Manager said “as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I want to know more than this report is presenting to us”.

Coming to the rescue of the committee, Sen. Adamu Aliero (Kebbi South) commended the committee for a thorough job and recommended that “this report is proper, we should pass it”.

Aliero said the Customs is entitled to the two percent collection from the Value Added Tax while he commended the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Ahmid Ali (rtd) for improving the welfare of the personnel of the Service.

Sen. Albert Bassey Akpan (Cross River South) said the seven percent collection by Customs from the federation account is an incentive to the agency to do more in revenue collection, adding that the two percent VAT collection is statutory.

He recomnended that the committee during its oversight should ensure strict compliance by the agency with specifics of the budget.

Sen. Mathew Uhroghide (Edo South) raised dust over failure by revenue collection agencies to submit their audited accounts over the years and the National Assembly has not penalised them.

Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, rounded off the debate by tacitly soliciting the cooperation of his colleagues to overlook the laxity in the report and pass the budget, so that the Senate can proceed with other items listed for the day.

However, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, in his concluding remarks, commended the Customs Service for beating its revenue target in 2019.

He maintained that the seven percent collection from the Federation account due the agency is an incentive intended to motivate the revenue generating agency to live up to the expectations of its responsibility.

“This Customs Service is a revenue generating agency, last year the report said they performed so well and even collected above the target, this is what we want.

“So, if there’s anything we would be doing is to encourage our revenue generating agencies to perform. We should be giving them incentives even when there’s none actually, so that we are able to get more and more resources.

“I believe that those of our colleagues who have served in the Customs know there’s improvement in the Customs service today.”

While charging committees of the Senate to properly oversight relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government, Lawan advised the Committees to get an understanding as to why their annual budgets make provision for certain items in dispute.

“I think what is crucial is for us to be up-to-date and prompt with our oversight. All those expenditures that are expected to be done, we should be able to understand how and when they are done.”

Lawan warned Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government that over the years have failed to submit audited reports of their annual expenditure to comply before the end of the first quarter of 2021, or risk facing drastic action by the National Assembly during appropriation. 

“The Second aspect is the audited accounts. It is a sad commentary that the agencies of government have not been submitting their audited accounts. This is unacceptable, and I think we need to take drastic action here.

“This is a new dawn. We have passed the budget last year, the operation or implementation of the budget has started, and we expect every MDA to present their audited accounts before the end of the year, especially towards the end of December, or at least the first quarter of next year.

“If any agency refuses or fails, without any cogent reason, we have every reason to take a drastic action when it comes to appropriation, because not to account for what you’re given the previous year is to say that you’re not prepared to take a new budget.

“So, I’m advising the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), especially those that are not up-to-date with their audited accounts to do so, because we could decide as a National Assembly, to take punitive measures against agencies of government that are not up-to-date with their audited accounts,” the Senate President said.