The Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff has revealed plans to investigate how over N4 trillion was lost due to revenue leakage in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). The period under review will cover 2006 and 2016.
In the investigation, the Senate committee will look into the tenures of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. Also, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government will be probed.
The probe is coming amid a yet-to-be resolved face-off between the Senate and the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd).
Disclosing this to journalists in Abuja, Chairman, Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, Senator Hope Uzodinma, said the committee would stop at nothing in recovering any money lost due to lapses and infractions.
According to him, preliminary investigations by the committee revealed that the N4 trillion leakage was as a result of various forms of infractions, including abuse and non-implementation of Foreign Exchange forms.
“What we are investigating is not money spent. It is the leakages. For instance, I am supposed to pay XYZ amount of duty. I will abandon the documentation, go get fake documents, collude with Customs, pay, maybe, a fraction of it and carry my goods. With that, the true import circle is not closed,” he noted.
Read more in Sun News
In the investigation, the Senate committee will look into the tenures of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. Also, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government will be probed.
The probe is coming amid a yet-to-be resolved face-off between the Senate and the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd).
Disclosing this to journalists in Abuja, Chairman, Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, Senator Hope Uzodinma, said the committee would stop at nothing in recovering any money lost due to lapses and infractions.
According to him, preliminary investigations by the committee revealed that the N4 trillion leakage was as a result of various forms of infractions, including abuse and non-implementation of Foreign Exchange forms.
“What we are investigating is not money spent. It is the leakages. For instance, I am supposed to pay XYZ amount of duty. I will abandon the documentation, go get fake documents, collude with Customs, pay, maybe, a fraction of it and carry my goods. With that, the true import circle is not closed,” he noted.
Read more in Sun News
