The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise has expressed displeasure over the failure of heads of key government agencies to honor its invitation to an investigative hearing on the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the management of the nation’s borders.
At the hearing held on Monday, the committee decried the nonchalant attitude of the invited officials, describing it as a disregard for legislative oversight and a hindrance to the committee’s efforts to address pressing issues affecting the country’s border security and revenue generation.
The House Committee on Public Accounts, in collaboration with the House Committee on Interior, has summoned the Minister of Interior, the Comptroller General of Customs, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, and other key stakeholders to an investigative hearing on the modernization of the Nigeria Customs Service.
The House, at two seating had ordered the committees to investigate the modernisation project of the Nigerian Customs Service (e-customs) concession to the Trade Mordeniation Project (TMP) and the role of Webb Fontaine in the E-Customs framework as well as the need to employ modern technology to secure Nigeria’s borders and address the challenges posed by illegal migration and border management.
However, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, was reported to be out of the country and, therefore, unable to attend the session with lawmakers. However, no explanation was provided for the absence of the Comptroller-General of Customs and his Immigration counterpart.
Reacting to the absence of the agency heads, a member of the committee, Hon. Olumide Osoba (APC, Ogun), expressed his displeasure. He emphasized that Section 88 of the Nigerian Constitution empowers the National Assembly to summon any individual to appear and provide explanations when necessary.
He further stated that in such instances, it is mandatory for the Chief Executives of the agencies to personally appear before the parliament.
The absence of key agency heads has stalled the investigative hearing of the House Committee on Customs, as their representatives were deemed unable to provide the critical answers required by the parliament.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Osoba, expressed frustration over the situation, stating that the absence of the Chief Executives rendered the hearing ineffective, as their representatives lacked the authority and knowledge to address the committee’s concerns comprehensively.
In his remarks, a member of the committee, Hon. Awaji-Inombek Abiante (PDP, Rivers), described the non-appearance of the agency heads as a blatant affront to the authority of the parliament. He warned that should they fail to appear on the next adjourned date, the committee and the entire parliament would be left with no choice but to invoke their constitutional powers to ensure compliance, including recommending the removal of the agency heads from office.
The Committee has since rescheduled the hearing, emphasizing its resolve to hold the agency heads accountable.
According to Abiante, their refusal to honour parliamentary invitation would mean that they are either tired of the job or incompetent to carry out their assigned duties.
In his ruling, Chairman of the House Committee on Customs, Leke Abejide (ADC, Kogi) said while the investigative hearing on the customs mordenisation has to do with improving government revenue, the second one deals with the security of the nation.
Abejide said despite the busy schedule of the lawmakers, they made out time to carry out the national assignment, pointing out that the investigative hearing would have to be shifted to another day, preferably after the passage of the national budget and at a time when the Chief Executives will be available to answer questions from members.
The Committee has been mandated to investigate the concession of customs operations to the Trade Modernisation Project (TMP) and the continued involvement of Webb Fontaine in managing the customs collection process.
The probe will focus on the due diligence conducted in selecting TMP as the new operator to take over the e-customs processes from Webb Fontaine. Additionally, the Committee will examine TMP’s performance since the concession, particularly in terms of the introduction of modern scanners aimed at streamlining and expediting the goods clearing process.
