Senate Seeks New Laws For Customs, Move To Stop Fg’s Monopoly On Prisons Management
BEVERLY HILLS, October 26, (THEWILL) – The Senate is considering new laws for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) that will effectively block revenue leakages in the service following the tour of Customs facilities in Abuja by the Senate Committee on Customs and Excise which began on Wednesday .
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Hope Uzodinma, revealed that the new laws would fashion ways and means to increase revenue generation capacity of the service by blocking all sources leakages insisting that the Service should be generating enough revenue to fund the country's annual budget.
He expressed disapproval at a report by the Ministry of Finance which indicated that the NCS had only generated less than N400 billion in 2016 revealing that the Senate will likely re-enact the Act establishing the NCS 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 solution,” he said.
“We have done a very detailed work here we have established contacts with the commands. All we are interested in doing is to bring up a robust position that will help the NCS earn more revenue.
“In order to do that effectively we are looking at their current modus operandi with a view to refining how things are done so that more revenue can accrue to the Service.
“By the time we look at the operations of some of these ports, we will come back and look at how best to amend and alter the existing Act. We want to create a document that will be bold enough to earn the country the kind of revenue we are looking for from non-oil sector.
“There are some limitations that have not made it possible for Customs to perform the way they should according to their mandate. Those are things that we will also look at and remove all obstacles to enable them function effectively.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has revealed that the Senate Constitution review committee planned to remove Prisons management from the Exclusive List and put it in the Concurrent List to break the monopoly of the Federal Government over the management of prisons in the country.
Ekweremadu made this known during the second reading of three bills which sought an Act to repeal and re-enact the Prison Act CAP p29 LFN 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2016 saying the Senate plans to consolidate the bills to form one bill due to their similarity.
The Bills were sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinnbu (Lagos Central), Senator Shaba Lafiagi (Kwara North) and Senator Babajide Omoworare (Osun East).
Story by Oputah David