The Senate has ordered the Comptroller-General of the
Nigerian Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (RTD), to appear before its Committee
on Customs and Excise to explain the circular he passed regarding
verification of vehicle duties by vehicle owners.
It was one of the decisions reached at the Senate plenary
Tuesday. No date has been fixed for Ali’s appearance. The senate also ordered
the Customs to suspend the proposed policy.
This followed an observation by Deputy Leader of the
Senate, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, at plenary on Tuesday.
He cited Orders 42, 43 and 52 of the Senate Standing
Orders, 2011 (as amended) and requested that the matter be attended to as
urgent as possible.
According to Na’Allah, the customs boss recently passed a
circular, informing Nigerians of the policy.
He said the circular required vehicle dealers and owners
to go to nearest Customs office to check if they paid correct customs duties
and if not, to update payment or be punished as illegal smugglers.
He added that it was expedient that the Upper Chamber
treated the issue as a matter of priority, adding that implementation of
the proposed policy was scheduled for April 12.
The lawmaker said that in line with the circular, four
zonal offices of Customs had been created for affected dealers or vehicle
owners to go and carry out the proposed verification.
He cautioned that allowing such policy would impose more
hardship on Nigerians.
Contributing, Sen. Dino Melaye, said that the policy was
unacceptable.
“What the Nigerian Customs has done by this announcement
is pure advertisement of incapacitation and incompetence.
“An innocent Nigerian, who went to Kano or Kubwa,
approached a dealer and bought a vehicle five to seven years ago will now be
stopped for stop-and-search by Customs.
“This means that on a day he is rushing his son to the
hospital, they will ask him if he has paid correct duty for the car he
bought from a dealer.
“He was not the one that cleared this vehicle. He is not the
one that imported this vehicle,’’ he said.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, said
that inasmuch as customs would be encouraged to generate revenue for
government, it should not be done at the expense of common sense and legality.
“Let me also say that we share the concerns of the
customs boss on raising revenue to run our country but unfortunately, it cannot
be at the expense of common sense and legality.
In his remarks, President of the Senate, Dr Bukola
Saraki, said that the Senate must carry out oversight on agencies of
government to ensure that they complied with provisions of law.
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