Feud Between Senate And Customs Lingers As Senate Accused CG Customs of Arrogance
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The lingering feud between the Senate and the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service ( NCS) Col Hammed Ali (rtd) has worsened as senators accused the Customs CG of arrogance and disrespect to the committee members who were carrying out their constitutional duty.
Chairman of the ad-hoc committee on economic wastage in the Nigeria Customs Service, Sen Dino Melaye stated this on Monday during the committee’s visitation to the Customs Headquarters in Abuja.
He wondered why such etiquette was not accorded the committee saying that the practice over the years with statutory bodies like Customs, Immigration, Prisons etc over the years the customs boss ought to have come down from his office to welcome the committee members into the premises and not just meeting them at the conference room.
National Assembly correspondent Folashade Abdulsalami reports that the Sen Melaye read a prepared speech outlining how the committee would carry out its investigation on economic waste in Customs Service .
Sen. Dino Melaye
Kogi West.
However, CG Customs told the committee that there was no breach of protocol for not coming down to welcome the committee members disclosing that appropriate officers have been assigned to do so.
He further noted that that the Customs has its protocol different from other public establishment and should not be dictated to on matters of etiquette or protocol.
He therefore assured the Lawmakers to open its records across the nation for investigations to determine if it’s culpable in allegations of economic waste levelled against by the Senate.
Colonel Hameed Ali
CG Customs
It would be recalled that the ad-hoc committee was set up on the 21st of December 2017 by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki following a motion by Senator Mohammed Hassan (Yobe South) in which he accused the Customs service of storing large volumes of seized perishable food items in its warehouses across the country.
It was alleged that the food items which ought to have been auctioned as required by law have been left to rot away leading to huge economic loss to the government.
In the meantime, the ad-hoc committee has visited 12 customs command and is scheduled to visit all customs warehouses across the country after which it will submit its report at plenary in two weeks.
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