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Customs accuses Adeosun of inciting Senate probe

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Customs accuses Adeosun of inciting Senate probe

There is a strong suspicion among senior officials that the ongoing Senate probes into the activities of the Nigeria Customs service (NCS) was instigated by the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun.

They lament that the minister beamed the searchlight on the service by an allegation of corruption among the officers and men of the service.

The minister had on October 20, 2016 lamented that the Federal Government was losing huge sums of revenue due to leakages in the Customs and the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), a factor she said was hampering meeting revenue targets from the two agencies.

Adeosun was said to have expressed displeasure at a report from her ministry, which indicated that the NCS had generated less than N400bn in 2016.

However, barely a week after, the Senate Committee on Finance and related offices, announced that it had commenced the process of probing the NCS aimed at looking into ways to increase revenue generation capacity of the service.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Hope Uzodimma, who disclosed this during an oversight visit to the NCS headquarters in Abuja, said if the service was well run it should generate enough revenue to fund the nation’s budget.

Uzodinma also disclosed that the National Assembly was looking into the process of re-enacting the law 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 and 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.”

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While interacting with the Comptroller-General of the Service, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd.), the committee requested that certain documents be submitted to enhance its probe.

The committee gave the service till October 28 to submit all the relevant documents and answer all the queries posed.

Part of the inquiries was seeking to establish how the seven per cent Negotiable Duty Credit was managed and how the service handled seized cargoes and overtime cargoes.

But despite the committee’s claim that it was acting independently, the customs officials have insisted that they were being subjected to the probe from the dictates of the minister, this is even when an aide to Adeosun has distanced her principal from the allegation.
By Emma Eke….

 

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0 Comments

  1. princewill ebuka

    October 28, 2016 at 8:20 am

    they definitely need to probe all this agencies, NCS seem to be corrupt. they should check them and many more.

  2. helen obanor

    October 28, 2016 at 8:59 am

    If they have nothing to hide, they shouldnt be scared of any probe except otherwise. And who cares if it was instigated by anyone. they seriously need probe to all those in govt service from time to time.

  3. JOHNSON PETER

    October 28, 2016 at 9:03 am

    I thought they say Hammed Ali is a corrupt free man. He shouldn’t be scared of probe. Mtccheww. All are corrupt.

  4. Amarachi Okoye

    October 28, 2016 at 11:55 am

    A man who is corrupt needs to be scared of probe because his mind is full of corruption without space

  5. Amaka Okoro

    October 28, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    customs should be very careful on the way they lay accuses to people just like adeosun a woman who speak for truth

  6. Joy Madu

    October 28, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    i wonder what is wrong with this our customs they should try and investigation before accusing someone adeosun is not corrupt like them

  7. yanju omotodun

    October 28, 2016 at 2:34 pm

    Seems there is a beef between Adeosun and Hammed Ali. I remembered Adeosun turned down the request of Hammed Ali when he seek for increment in the salaries of custom officers as well as other severance packages for them. This must have been a factor for the probe.

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