The House of Representatives Committee on Customs has demanded appearances by the Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali, Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, bank executives, importers, Inspection Agents and other critical stakeholders over their roles in the alleged abuse of waivers and bond on import duties between 2010 till date.
Other stakeholders invited to face the Committee include: Web Fountain Nig Ltd, Cotecna, SGS and Global Scan.
It was gathered that critical stakeholders to whom letters have been forwarded since three weeks ago are expected to appear before the Committee next week Wednesday.
The Committee in a letter dated 13 November, 2017 and signed by the Committee Chairman, Hon. James Aboidun Faleke (APC, Lagos), advised those invited to appear and offer explanations as the investigative hearing starts next week.
Recall that the House had on November 8 harmonised three motions calling for the probe of issuance of waivers and revenue leakages in the declaration of custom duties.
The House as a result mandated the committee on Customs to investigate “the handling of import duty revenues, waivers and bonds on import duties collected by the Customs Service from 2010 to date”;
“Audit the Customs Duties Remitted by commercial banks to the Central Bank of Nigeria from January 2014 till date and proof of such remittances”; as well as
“The operational activities of Web services Fountain Nigeria Ltd in the Nigeria Customs Service, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure between 2013 and 2017, the violation of its automated system for customs data (ASYCUDA), timeline agreement, rules of engagement and the delay in the handover of its services to the Nigeria Customs Service” respectively.
