The Senate on Wednesday started comprehensive probe into the activities of
the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) with a view to blocking all revenue
leakages and enhance generation.
The probe, launched by the Senate Committee on Customs and Excise, would
look into ways to increase revenue generation capacity of the service.
The Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Hope Uzodimma, during an oversight
visit to the NCS headquarters in Abuja, said that service should generate
enough revenue to fund the nation’s budget.
He expressed displeasure at a report by the Ministry of Finance, which
indicated that the NCS had generated less than N400 billion so far in
2016.
Speaking at the end of the visit, Uzodinma said that his committee might
re-enact the Act establishing the service for optimal performance.
“We are looking into the operations of Customs Service; looking at the
areas of revenue generation and possible leakages with a view to finding
solutions.
“We have done detailed work and we have established contacts with all
commands under the service.
“All we are interested in is to evolve a robust framework that will help
the NCS earn more revenue. “In order to do that effectively, we are
examining its current mode of operations with a view to refining how
things are done.
“By the time we finished looking at the operations of some of the ports,
we will come back and look at how best to amend the existing Act.
“We want to create a situation where the NCS will be able to fetch the
country the kind of revenue we are looking for from non-oil sector,’’ he
said.
Speaking on the revelation that the service could not access some oil
companies for payment of levies, Uzodinma said that was part of the
impediments that require enabling laws.
“There are some limitations that have not made it possible for the Customs
service to perform its mandate the way it should. “Those are things that
we will also look into so as to remove all obstacles to enable it function
effectively,’’ the committee chairman said. While interacting with the
Comptroller-General of the Service, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd.), Uzodinma
requested that certain documents be submitted to enhance the committee’s
probe.
The committee gave the service till Friday, Oct. 28 to submit the
documents and answer all the queries posed. It sought to know how the
seven per cent Negotiable Duty Credit was managed and how the service
handled seized cargoes and overtime cargoes.
The NCS is expected to render details of how it handles seized cigarette
and alcohol, record of auctioned overtime and seized cargoes. The
committee also demanded for record of all waivers granted in the last
three years, value of the waivers, detailed record of sugar levy and other
details of revenue accrual.
Uzodinma expressed displeasure at the inability of the service to collect
duty from oil companies, promising that a legislation to review the law
would be initiated. In his remark, the Custom CG, Col. Hameed Ali assured
that the NCS would give full cooperation to the committee. He directed NCS
officials to provide the committee with all the information and documents
it required.