The House Committee on Customs has threatened to bar six commercial banks from collecting customs charges for the federal government if accurate revenues are not sent.
At its meeting on Wednesday to investigate an alleged non-remittance of N10 billion in duties, the committee told the banks two weeks to reconcile their accounts and submit records of all transfers.
During the hearing, the committee’s chairman, Leke Abejide, stated that the panel will direct the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to deduct any pending payments due to the government from the impacted institutions.
Guaranty Trust Bank, Wema Bank, Providence Bank, UBA, Eco Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank are among the financial firms affected.
Eco Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Providence Bank, and UBA, according to the committee’s interim report, have not remitted N4.4 billion, N2.4 billion, N66.8 million, and N3 billion, respectively.
The committee did not include Guarantee Trust Bank’s statement in the report.
The committee chairman stated that the purpose of the investigation is to increase the government’s revenue generating.
“Failure to reconcile with our consultants and pay up the outstanding before two weeks, we will use the power of the gavel.
“Reconcile with our consultants, we are giving you 14 days to do so, anything after the said date, we will bring out the big stick against you by asking CBN to deduct from source, and we will also delete you from customs duties collection,” he said
Abejide added that the committee would investigate 15 more banks to ensure that all duties due to the federal government are recovered.
