The House of Representatives has expressed concern over the delay in the completion of the corporate headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

The lawmakers’ concerns followed what they called the huge financial approval by the National Assembly for the project in the last three years.

Chairman of the Committee on Customs and Excise, Leke Abejide, expressed the displeasures of the House when he led other members of the committee on a visit to the 11-storey complex located in the Maitama area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The lawmaker spoke as the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd.), informed the committee members that the country had been awarded the hosting right of the first global fragile conference by the World Customs Organisation.

Although there were no immediate records of how much had been spent on the project since its inception about 15 years ago, Abejide said the current National Assembly had approved about N8.7 billion for the NCS to complete the project.

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He said: “We were here in February 2020 and the Customs management told us that the complex would be completed and put to use in March. It is now two years and three months and we are back here again and the complex is not completed.

“I am not satisfied with the level of work here. Even though they have told us that it will be commissioned and put to use in October, the level of work is not encouraging at all. By October, we will be back here.”

The Deputy Comptroller General in Charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, David Chikan, conducted the committee members round the project.

The Customs chief assured the House committee members that the project would be completed before the end of October.

He attributed the delay in completing the project to delays in the release of fund.