The Senate has passed the Nigerian Customs Service Management Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2017 which makes it mandatory for the President to seek confirmation of the appointment of the Comptroller General for the Customs Service.
The bill also makes it mandatory for the President to appoint the Comptroller General from officers within the Customs Service and has scrapped the Customs Governing Board and replaced it with the Customs Service Commission.
The passage of the bill followed a clause by clause consideration of the report of Committee on Customs and Excise on the bill as well as a voice vote by the lawmakers.
Presenting the report, the Chairman of the committee, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, said the Act establishing Customs had not undergone a major overhaul since 1958 saying the passage of the bill would help to reposition the service which was one of the major sources of revenue generation for the Federal Government.
He said one of the major objectives of the bill was to create a commission that would take up most of the duties of the Minister of Finance, who was currently the head of the Management Board of the service to regulate and oversee activities of the service to ensure optimal performance.
“At the beginning of this senate a committee was set up to identify the money bills that will help our distressed economy and one of the bills that the senate earmarked for amendment is the Customs and Excise Management Act,” he said.
“The primary purpose of amending this bill is to bring discipline and prudence into Nigeria Customs Service as a major revenue earning Department of Government. It is also to use the services of Customs to strengthen border community and facilitate trade.
“The Customs Act was legislated upon last in 1958. This is the first time that this bill is going through a comprehensive overhaul and it is as good as a brand new one. This bill has created a Customs Service Commission that is in charge of the day to day management of the service.
powers of oversight the various customs operations while ensuring that it is not different from customs in other clients.
“The Chairman of the Commission will be appointed by the President, subject to Senate confirmation and members of the commission are going to be statutory organs of government, Federal Ministry of Finance.”
A provision in Clause 13 Subsection (2) makes it mandatory for the Customs Service Commission to determine the numbers and duties of Deputy Comptroller General and Assistant Comptroller General.
The Commssion is to be headed by a chairman, who would be a retired career Comptroller General or Deputy Comptroller General, who would be appointed by the President an initial tenure of four years.
The appointment of the chairman of the commission is also subject to confirmation by the Senate, and the tenure is renewable once.
The upper legislative chamber argued that “The office of the Comptroller General of Customs is sufficiently sensitive to warrant scrutiny by the Senate and thus ensure that the best possible candidates occupy that position”.
Senators also inserted a clause that makes it mandatory for the federal character law to reflect in the appointments of Deputy Comptrollers General, Assistant Comptrollers General.
Section 13 of the Bill made it clear that only a serving officer in the Customs Service should be qualified to be appointed CG
The section stated in parts, “The President shall appoint from the Customs Service, subject to the confirmation of the Senate, a Comptroller General who shall be responsible for the overall management of the Customs Service.”
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