The Senate on Wednesday started comprehensive probe into the activities of<\/p>\n
the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) with a view to blocking all revenue
\nleakages and enhance generation.<\/p>\n
The probe, launched by the Senate Committee on Customs and Excise, would
\nlook into ways to increase revenue generation capacity of the service.<\/p>\n
The Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Hope Uzodimma, during an oversight
\nvisit to the NCS headquarters in Abuja, said that service should generate
\nenough revenue to fund the nation\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
He expressed displeasure at a report by the Ministry of Finance, which
\nindicated that the NCS had generated less than N400 billion so far in
\n2016.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the end of the visit, Uzodinma said that his committee might
\nre-enact the Act establishing the service for optimal performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking into the operations of Customs Service; looking at the
\nareas of revenue generation and possible leakages with a view to finding
\nsolutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have done detailed work and we have established contacts with all
\ncommands under the service.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll we are interested in is to evolve a robust framework that will help
\nthe NCS earn more revenue. \u201cIn order to do that effectively, we are
\nexamining its current mode of operations with a view to refining how
\nthings are done.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time we finished looking at the operations of some of the ports,
\nwe will come back and look at how best to amend the existing Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to create a situation where the NCS will be able to fetch the
\ncountry the kind of revenue we are looking for from non-oil sector,\u2019\u2019 he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the revelation that the service could not access some oil
\ncompanies for payment of levies, Uzodinma said that was part of the
\nimpediments that require enabling laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some limitations that have not made it possible for the Customs
\nservice to perform its mandate the way it should. \u201cThose are things that
\nwe will also look into so as to remove all obstacles to enable it function
\neffectively,\u2019\u2019 the committee chairman said. While interacting with the
\nComptroller-General of the Service, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd.), Uzodinma
\nrequested that certain documents be submitted to enhance the committee\u2019s
\nprobe.<\/p>\n
The committee gave the service till Friday, Oct. 28 to submit the
\ndocuments and answer all the queries posed. It sought to know how the
\nseven per cent Negotiable Duty Credit was managed and how the service
\nhandled seized cargoes and overtime cargoes.<\/p>\n
The NCS is expected to render details of how it handles seized cigarette
\nand alcohol, record of auctioned overtime and seized cargoes. The
\ncommittee also demanded for record of all waivers granted in the last
\nthree years, value of the waivers, detailed record of sugar levy and other
\ndetails of revenue accrual.<\/p>\n
Uzodinma expressed displeasure at the inability of the service to collect
\nduty from oil companies, promising that a legislation to review the law
\nwould be initiated. In his remark, the Custom CG, Col. Hameed Ali assured
\nthat the NCS would give full cooperation to the committee. He directed NCS
\nofficials to provide the committee with all the information and documents
\nit required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n