Reps move to end appointment of non-Customs officers to head NCS

The House of Representatives has passed a bill to ban the appointment of non-custom officers as Comptroller Generals.

If passed by the Senate and signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, people like Hameed Ali cannot serve as CGC.

The bill, sponsored by Leke Abejide was considered and passed by the House on Tuesday.

It would be recalled that the incumbent CGC is a retired military person, who was appointed by President Buhari in 2015.

This bill makes it mandatory that only Customs officers can rise to the level of CGC.

Speaking on the synopsis of the bill, Abejide said the principal act has become obsolete because no major review has been done since 1958 when the law was first enacted.

“The passage of this Bill is a step in the right direction, especially in view of the fact that the Bill is the first major reform in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Legal Framework in 63 years,” he said.

He stated that some of the punishments in the existing act are not reflective of the realities in the country.

Abejide said the new bill will provide “stiffer punishments for offenders to act as deterrence for serious economic crimes of Customs, thereby encouraging more revenue in the area of payment of fines.”

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