KOREDE FOGO
The management of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), has incured the wrath of the House of Representatives over alleged illegal deductions to the tune of N28.3million from revenue allegedly collected on behalf of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The N28.3million was Cash on Transfer (CoT) charges on N94.345 billion revenue allegedly collected on behalf of the Customs Service.
BUSINESSINSIDERNG reports that the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (oAuGF), queried First bank, saying in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed with the Customs service was 30k Per N1000 but, the bank unilaterally raised the commissions to N1 per N1000 as against the 30k originally charged amounting to N1.3 billion deduction from N94.345 collected on behalf of the service.
The Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Rep. Oluwole Oke, who queried the First Bank management during the investigative hearing into the audit queries issued by the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (oAuGF), said the Bank was invited to respond to the oAuGF audit query that the NCS was over-charged by the banks in the area of CoT.
He said that presentations made by representatives of some banks including First Bank were found to be at variance with the agreement signed by NCS authorities.
Mr. Shehu Aliyu, who led the First Bank Executive Director said that the Bank ought to collect 30k per N1,000 as stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by both parties.
He said that in addition to the 30k charge, there was another charge of 10k for Interswitch, adding that the Bank had during the last public hearing, informed the Committee of its plan to tender a new report to reflect the new 10k charge.
He said that over the period Jan to Dec. 2019, First Bank collected the sum of N94.3 billion on behalf of the NCS, adding that it charged a total of N28.3 million on 30k per N1,000.
He added that the net remittance on daily basis aggregated to N94.345 billion.