Nigeria’s House of Representatives has claimed that the Nigerian customs service is losing the sum of $8.810 billion annually due to the non-implementation of a Customs modernisation project.
This was disclosed by Rep. Leke Abejide, Chairman, House Committee on Customs and Excise at the public hearing of the Joint Committees on Customs and Excise, Finance and Banking and Currency with the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, represented by Director, Home Finance, Stephen Okon.
The Ministry revealed that a pending court case had delayed the implementation of the project.
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What the Lawmaker is saying
The lawmaker stated that the project is expected to generate $176.2 billion during its 20 years concession period and is expected to automate the activities of the NCS, and also prevent revenue leakages.
The Finance Minister responded that there were pending court cases which had delayed the implementation of the project.
According to the minister, “The suits were three and as such the project could not continue, the pending cases were impeding the commencement of the e-Customs Project.”
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The Minister added that in order to pave the way for the take-off of the project, the ministry was partnering with the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation to ensure that the arbitration was speedily concluded.
“This can settle all the pending matters and allow the e-Customs project to start without further delay,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), represented by the Assistant Comptroller General (ICT), Galadima Saidu, said that the earlier selected contractor, Adani Mega System Ltd, was stopped from executing the project citing that the lawmakers are aware of the state of the project.
