Import waivers: Senate to strip Jonathan, Okonjo-Iweala of powers

By Henry Umoru
ABUJA — CRISIS appears to be brewing between the Presidency and Nigeria Customs Service as the Senate has begun the process of stripping President Goodluck Jonathan of powers to grant duty exemption to certain categories of organisations.
Also to be affected, if the new laws scale through, is the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who will no longer have the authority to appoint members to the board of Nigeria Customs.

From right: Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Chairman, House Committee on Aids, Loan and Debt Management, Adeyinka Ajayi and Chris Emeka Azubogu during interactive meeting with the committee at the National Assembly, Abuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

There was a sharp disagreement among the Presidency, Customs Service and Senate over the amendment, even as the executive stressed that the amendment process must be jettisoned against the backdrop that the Customs Service could not be saddled with the powers currently being exercised by the President.
The Senate also revealed that the Customs this year lost a total of N58.7 billion to waivers granted by the executive arm of government.
This came as the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Abdullahi Dikko, faulted the existing laws the body operates with, and stressed that activities currently being carried out by the agency were not provided for or codified in any law.
Represented by Deputy Comptroller of Customs in charge of Corporate Support Services, John Atteh, Dikko said: “A cursory look at the current law reveals a number of deficiencies arising from the fact that many actions currently being undertaken by the NCS are not provided for or codified in any law and, therefore, do not have a proper legal basis.
“Many such actions are typically based on pronouncements from government, raising the questions of where the powers to enact such policies came from, except as provided by the powers of the executive President of Nigeria to enact policies.
“This then makes the pronouncements mere policies and subject to judicial manoeuvres especially if such policies contradict existing legislations. Furthermore, changes conducted in this fashion cloud the spirit of transparency and consultation.‘’
The event came up at yesterday’s Public Hearing on the Customs Service Bills, 2012 and Companies Income Tax Act, 2004(Amendment) Bill, 2012 organised by the Senate Committee for Finance, led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, PDP, Kaduna North.

Not Customs, but Nigeria lost N58bn

Speaking at the public hearing, Finance Minister, who corroborated the Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Matters, Senator Isa Galaudu, that the Customs lost a total of N58.7 billion from waivers granted by the executive arm of government, however, clarified that it was not the Customs, but Nigeria as a country, that lost the money.
She said: “We all agreed on one thing that abuse of waiver for whatever purpose is not something good for the country. I think the issue is that the revenue being lost is not by Customs, but by the nation.
“Customs administration is globally recognised as a key for driving economic growth by facilitating trade between countries and also by driving revenue collection. The primary role of the Customs in Nigeria has been to help drive revenue collection within the country and it has also added more and more trade facilitation role.
Declaring open the public hearing, Senate President David Mark who was represented by Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba noted: “As a frontline organisation that contributes to national security and economic growth of the nation, it could not but substantially benefit from the transformations experienced in the life of this nation in the areas of law reforms and other facets.
Chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, who replied Dr Okonjo- Iweala, noted that since the Nigeria Customs Service came into operations, it had relied on rules, regulations, agreements, conventions, treaties and decrees to function and compete with other sister organisations world wide.
Also contributing, Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, Engr. Elias Mbam made a strong case that he or a representative of the Commission be included in the proposed Board of the Nigeria Customs Service.
Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, who was represented by the Assistant Director, Legal Services, Adedeji Lawal, however, called for the inclusion of the apex bank on the Governing Board of the Nigeria Custom Service.