Senate, Customs CG set for showdown

The gulf between the Senate and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Colonel Hameed Ali, widened on Friday as both stuck to their guns on the crisis over the Customs plan to start impounding vehicles without valid import duties documents.

Of particular interest is the directive of the Senate to Ali to appear before it in Customs uniform wearing his CG rank.

It would be recalled that the Senate had summoned the Customs CG to appear before it in uniform following the controversy that trailed the vehicle duty policy.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs, Senator Dino Melaye while speaking on a programme on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Friday morning stressed that the Senate would not back down on its opposition to the plan of the customs to start demanding for customs papers from vehicle owners on the highways.

“You cannot ask Nigerians to pay for your failure. You cannot ask Nigerians to pay for your incompetence,” he said while asking why the Customs allowed smuggled vehicles into the country in the first place.

He also insisted that Ali must appear before the Senate in the uniform of the customs wearing his rank.

But Col. Ali (Rtd) has said he will not appear before the Senate in uniform.

Speaking on a live television (TVC) programme on Friday, Col. Ali stated that the Senate should rather focus on the performance of the Customs under him rather than on mundane issues like uniform wearing.

According to the Customs CG, “I will appear before the Senate because I have  utmost respect for the nation’s legislature. But as regards uniform wearing or not, the answer is no, because I was not appointed Comptroller General to wear uniforms.

“Uniform wearing should not be the parameter for measuring performances. I am sorry to say this, but for those who have been given responsibility to conduct oversight functions on the Customs, what we expect from them is to look at what we are doing, and let us know if we are on the right track or not.

“We expect them to proffer suggestions for us on how to do our jobs better, and not issues like wearing uniform or not.

“On issues like uniform wearing; does uniform do the work or the person behind the uniform? Am I doing my job or not? I think these are the questions that should bother the Senate more, rather than mundane issues like uniform wearing.”