The Senator Sani Musa-led Joint Committee of the Senate scrutinising the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) on Wednesday, November 15, frowned at the alleged loss of N1.3trillion to waivers and concessions in 2023 by the federal government.
Also yesterday, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it has no details of the Customs’ $ 3.2 billion modernization project.
The Comptroller General of the NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this when he appeared before the Joint Committee in Abuja.
Adeniyi was represented at the session by the Deputy Comptroller General, Mba Musa.
The senators had asked the CG about details of the agreement signed by the Federal Government on the modernization of Nigeria Customs.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had in April 2023 approved the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) modernisation project, also known as e-customs, despite a court order restraining the Federal Government from going on with the initiative.
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The administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari had awarded the implementation of the Customs modernization project to a concessionaire.
The concessionaire is Bergman Securities Consultant and Suppliers Limited as the project sponsor, Africa Finance Corporation UFC as a lead financier, while Huawei Technologies will be retained as a lead technical service provider.
However, stakeholders have faulted the project, saying it will mortgage the future of the service and also inimical to national security.
Speaking on the modernisation project before the Senate joint committee, Mba told the lawmakers that the NCS was not aware of the details of the modernization contract.
He stated: “We are not privy to details of the modernization agreement of the Nigeria Customs Modernisation Project.”
He also declared that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) lost N1.3 trillion in 2023 due to waivers and concessions that ex-President Buhari’s administration granted to investors.
He explained that NCS would have generated more revenue to the nation’s Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2023 if not because of the waivers and concessions arrangement.
Obviously not comfortable with the arrangement, the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Sani Musa, said the Senate would commence an investigation into granting waivers and concessions in the country.
He said: “By now, we should not be talking about concession for cement manufacturers, we should not even be talking about sugar importation.
“We should not deny ourselves revenues that we should generate to make our economy vibrant. By now, we should be consolidating on waivers given to boost revenues.
“We would review the waivers and make our recommendations. By now, you (NCS) should be meeting up on your projected target, if there are no waivers.”