Hopes of a comprehensive review of the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service were rekindled yesterday at the National Assembly following the lower chamber endorsement of the Customs Bill to go for a second reading.
The bill to repeal the Customs and Excise Management Act (2004) amendment and also reform the administration and management of Customs and Excise in Nigeria on Tuesday passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
Hopes of a comprehensive review of the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service were rekindled yesterday at the National Assembly following the lower chamber endorsement of the Customs Bill to go for a second reading.
The bill to repeal the Customs and Excise Management Act (2004) amendment and also reform the administration and management of Customs and Excise in Nigeria on Tuesday passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
The bill seeks the consolidation in a single reference document, the NCS legal authourities, which are scattered in multiple enactments.
It is also to bring the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) of 1958, in line with the modern day reality.
Leading the debate, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Hon Leo Ogor, said that the CEMA did not provide for the establishment of the NCS, even as he added that the NCS operated within scattered legal framework and supporting laws, as well as legal notices meant to complement the existing laws.
“CEMA does not provide a proper legal basis for applying important international agreements relating to customs procedures,'' he said.
Ogor said that an initial gap analysis of CEMA conducted in 2009 found the law to be severely lacking with respect to the World Customs Organisation’s revised Kyoto Convention.
The legislator maintained that if passed into law, the bill would substantially enhance revenue generation and facilitate trade in the country.
According to him, a transparent situation would require all enabling laws guiding the operations of the service to be consolidated in one document.
He said that there was a need to overhaul the existing legal framework for the NCS in order to reposition its operations.
Speaking in the same vein, Hon Dakuku Peterside also argued that if reformed, operations of the Nigeria Customs Service would improve and revenue generation would also increase.
He said that the reform would bring sanity to the modalities for collecting revenue not backed by the existing law.
The trio of Femi Gbajabiamila, Jerry Manwe and Andrew Uchendu all supported the bill.
While Hon Gbajabiamila, the Minority leader of the House said that the bill for the reform of the NCS was long overdue and urged his colleagues to support its passage, Manwe said that the passage of the bill into law would reposition the service to play its constitutional role.
But, Andrew Uchendu submitted that issue of governing council for the service should be examined at the committee level to do away with bureaucratic bottlenecks.
He noted that if the Minister of Finance continued to be the chairman of the council, bureaucracy would set in.
“We should give the headship of the board to an experienced Nigerian,’’ he said.
The bill was subsequently referred to the House Committee on Customs for further debate and other actions which may include a public hearing soon.
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