Customs assesses banks on compliance with duty management guidelines

Dele aderibigbe Lagos - 10.03.2008

Several banks may soon be in the firing line as the Nigeria Customs Service high command begins a comprehensive assessment of banks in compliance with duty management guidelines, in a bid to prune down the figures of duty collecting banks.

The exercise, according to sources within the customs, followed a complaint by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in respect of remittances from several banks which the apex bank observed were often not in tandem with figures frequently posted by the customs service, aside from the usual delays by the banks in remitting collected customs duty.

Two banks, recently suspended from collecting duty, but later pardoned, sources said, were among those who may be affected by the ongoing exercise. The sources revealed that the CBN was concerned that the defaulting banks were seemingly collecting the duty and expending them on other purposes and making gains, before remitting the collection, hence the perceived delays, which in recent times had become too rampant.

When the Nigerian Tribune contacted the spokesman for the Customs high command in Abuja, Mr. Wale Adeniyi, for comment, he explained that such exercises actually were carried out on routine basis.

The spokesman however stressed that the Customs Service had a mandate not only to collect duties, but also to ensure that no stone was left unturned, in a bid to ensure that government revenues were properly managed in accordance with laid-down guidelines.