Customs CG shuns Senate over move to block leakages in Service

The Comptroller-General of the Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd.), yesterday failed to show up for the public hearing as the Senate moves to block leakages in the Service by amending the establishing laws of the service.

The public hearing was organized by the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff on the Bill on Customs and Excise Management Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) 2016.

It was observed that Ali who shunned the hearing, did not send any representative either.

One of the aggrieved senators who spoke off record, blamed Ali’s “Military background for lack of appreciation of importance of the session which will affect position and institution.”

It would be recalled that, the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Insurance had in November threatened to issue a warrant for the arrest of Ali over an alleged N250m insurance fraud committed by the NCS.

The Senate President Bukola Saraki insisted that the 8th Senate is determined to ensure that no stone is left unturned in ensuring that the Customs and Excise Department plays the pivotal role it is expected to play as a major funder of the Federal budget.

“It is for this reason that we will waste no time in assigning the proposed bill to the Committee on Customs and Excise for immediate action.

It is for the very critical role that the custom plays in the economic and security life of our country that we have made this bill one of our key priority bills”

“The Customs remain one of the most important sources of government revenues. With government revenues dwindling rapidly at a time when we have so much to do, this has further made the need for us to block all leakages and possible inefficiency points in our revenue profile an urgent national duty”

“When the 8th Senate came on board, we promised that we would seek to introduce new laws to improve revenue generation, curb corruption, improve on accountability and governance. This bill is one of those bills, which even our private sector has identified as critically important to doing business, and relates significantly to the cost of doing business in general”

“This bill clearly represents a clear message from the Senate that we are ready to do what it takes to empower our revenue agencies to perform their duty to ensure that our country’s economy continues to competitively perform even in the face of dwindling oil market prospects. “

“Let me use this opportunity to reiterate the resolve of the 8th National Assembly to work with the Executive to plug all observed revenue leakages in the system no matter where they may be coming from”

The Senate president had recently said the Customs Service stinks of corruption and must be changed during a Senate Section.