The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions is set to investigate an allegation of un-appropriated spendings totaling N567billion, made by the Nigeria Customs Service ( NCS) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS) from January 2005 till date.
This investigation was as a result of a fallout of a petition by Ngozika Ihuoma, Executive Secretary, Legislative Watch, a non-govermental organisation.
In a petition dated August 13, 2015 to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, the petitioner contended that contrary to Section 162 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), both agencies have failed to render account of the utilization of Cost of Collection from January 2005 till date.
Section 162 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states that: “Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the local government councils in each state on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly”.
The petition titled: ‘Re: Investigation of Utilization of 7% Cost of Collection Paid to Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and 4% Paid to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) from Federation Account from 2005 to Date’ posited that both federal agencies have been short changing the Federal Government without appropriation from the National Assembly.
This development, he said, formed part of leakages to the Federation Account. He therefore called on the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate the utilisation of the 7% Cost of Collection released to the Nigeria Customs Service from January 2005 till date. The organisation also asked the Committee to investigate the utilization of 4% Cost of Collection released to Federal inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in the same period under review.
Specifically, he accused the Comptroller-General of Customs for “using 7% of Cost of Collection to buy houses for private uses”. Attaching a copy of the Summary of Gross Revenue Allocation by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), he revealed that both agencies refused to remit over N567bn to the Federation Account.
A Federal Ministry of Finance document presented to the Committee by the petitioner indicated that the average monthly collection cost of the NCS is N2.5 billion which puts the total amount not remitted by NCS over the period 126 months (January 2005 to July 2015) at N315billion.
