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Tag: Col. Hameed Ali

  • Customs to sue firms for delaying N1.8b premium

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Comptroller-General, (CGC), Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) on Tuesday vowed he would not hesitate to sue four firms for defaulting to pay the families of deceased officers’ backlog amounting to N1.819 billion premiums between 2009 and 2014.

    The customs boss however disclosed after getting the go-ahead from the National Assembly to pay the families from the service’s last year’s budget, he has raised a committee to effect the payment within six weeks.

    Ali, who made the announcement in Abuja, while inaugurating a committee to clear the claims in three tranches, revealed the defaulting insurance companies are: Niger Insurance, Great Nigeria Insurance, Chrome Insurance and Country and City Insurance.

    He accused the firms of not paying the Group Life Assurance and Group Personal Accidents liabilities during the period.

    The Comptroller-General noted that the firms did not give any excuse for sitting on the premium.

    According to him: “We have taken all the steps that we can including reporting them to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) but to no avail.

    Read Also; Customs mulls vehicle duty review to 10%

    “Maybe we will end up, with the advice of the legal adviser, going to court.”

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) boss said the people that suffer most from this are families and next of kin of the deceased officers.

    “What we did was to liaise with the National Assembly (NASS) in the last year budget within our fund to pay up these claims to alleviate the suffering. On how to get the money from the brokers will be decided in court,” Ali noted.

    Tasking the seven-man committee, he said: “Every Kobo will be paid with the supervision of the office of the CGC. It is our hope that this will alleviate the sufferings of our people.”

    Also inaugurating an eight-man committee to distribute perishable goods seized by NCS, he said Customs warehouses were filled and the need to distribute rice and other goods before the rainy season.

    Ali said President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the inclusion of formal orphanages and crisis areas beside the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

    “We are looking at in the next six weeks, we should be able to distribute this consignment,” Ali said.

    The CGC has also ordered a comprehensive biometric exercise to capture all officers and men of the Service. Ali said there were disparities in the figure of the workforce.

    “There are officers who have been chopped out of the Service but they are still wearing uniforms and extorting money. These are the ones giving us a bad name,” he said.

  • Economic saboteurs had no love for Nigeria – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said those who mismanaged Nigeria’s economy in the past, through fraudulent electricity projects and misuse of revenue earnings from oil, had no love for the country.

    The president stated this when he received members of the Buhari Support Organisations (BSO) led by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    President Buhari urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and ensure that only ‘‘people of conscience are in-charge of governance at all levels’’, as the nation prepared for general elections in 2019.

    He said: ‘‘I challenge anybody to check from Europe, America and Asia; between 1999 and 2014, Nigeria was producing 2.1 million barrels of crude oil per day at an average cost of 100 dollars per barrel and it went up to 143 dollars.

    ‘‘When we came it collapsed to between 37 and 38 dollars and later was oscillating between 40 and 50 dollars.

    ‘‘I went to the CBN Governor, with my cap in my hand, and asked if we had savings. He told me we had only debts, no savings. Some of the roads were not repaired since the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) days.

    ‘‘I don’t care the opinion you have about Abacha but I agreed to work with him and we constructed roads from Abuja to Port Harcourt, Benin to Onitsha and so on. We also touched education and health institutions.

    ‘‘One of the former Heads of State was bragging that he spent more than 15 billion dollars on power in Nigeria. Where is the power?’’ the President said.

    On the mismanagement of the economy by previous administrations, President Buhari noted that the perpetrators lacked imagination and plans for the development of the nation.

    ‘‘Sometimes, I wonder about those who can afford to send their children abroad for studies and yet continue to sabotage the economy, I wonder what kind of Nigeria they want their children to return to and work. There is a lot of lack of imagination.

    ‘‘If you are working for the country, then you shouldn’t be misappropriating and misapplying public funds the way people did,’’ he said.

    The President noted that under his watch, the 2016 and 2017 budgets recorded the highest appropriation and releases in capital projects, with over N2.8 trillion disbursements in two years.

    The President urged Nigerians to reject those bent on dividing the country along religious and ethnic lines, warning that “they do not mean well for the country.

    ‘‘I have said severally that we do not have any other country than Nigeria and we will remain here and salvage it together.

    ‘‘We have nothing to regret. Absolutely nothing. God has given Nigeria everything. We are rich in human and material resources. Let us keep on praying to God to put people of conscience in-charge at all levels.’’

    On the activities of the support group, President Buhari apologised for not rallying them before announcing his intention to seek re-election in 2019 during a meeting of the National Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress on April 9, 2018.

    He thanked members of the group for their resolute support to him as a Presidential candidate in 2015 and all through his term in office, adding that their voluntary sacrifices were an indication of their trust and belief in the great future of the country.

    In his remarks, Ali said the group and majority of Nigerians are passionate about a second-term for President Buhari because of his integrity, honesty, love and patriotism.

    He noted that President Buhari had entrenched fiscal discipline and prudent management of resources, improved the nation’s security and delivered on his promise to revamp agriculture, as a major revenue earner for the country.

  • Customs to prosecute smugglers of 18 vehicles  

    Customs to prosecute smugglers of 18 vehicles  

    The Nigeria Customs Service Tuesday paraded 18 exotic vehicles that it apprehended from Kefiano Motors Ltd in Abuja, vowing to prosecute the dealer if it is established that the items were out rightly smuggled.

    Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the Comptroller -General, Col. Hameed Ali retired said that “we have just started our investigations to see that the duty were paid as they claimed or they were not paid. If it is proven that there was no intention at all to pay duty, then it is purely a smuggled item and therefore, the Section 147 under Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA 2004) will apply. We will prosecute them.”

    According to him, “if you are found in possession of a smuggled vehicle, it is one year jail term’ no option. We will have to bring the law to bear. We will surely have to test the law now. If we are able to prove it, Kuje will be your home.”

    He said that the Customs officers that connived with the dealer will also face the wrath of the law.

    He told the reporters that on September 2017, based on credible information the detachment of the Compliance Team visited Kefiano Motors Ltd in the Central Business District of Abuja and discovered 18 suspected smuggled exotic vehicles that were displayed for sales.

    The Comptroller-General noted that beyond the issue of non-payment of Customs duty, 13 of the vehicles are bullet proof.

    He added that “These vehicles require clearance from the office of the National Security Adviser before importation. In a period of fragile security, we cannot afford to have unauthorized persons use armoured vehicles without End User Certificates; possession of the vehicles is illegal. ”

    The vehicles are two Range Rovers, one Rolls Royce, four Lexus’ three G wagons, two Prados, one Lincoln Navigator, One Infinity, on 4matic, two Toyota Camry saloon cars.

    Ali said that in the last two months, the service had stepped up its implementation of the Federal Government’s ban on importation of vehicles through land boarders.

    The implementation, according to the Customs boss, has yielded the following positive results in the last two months across the country: Zone A, Lagos -135 vehicles seized, Zone B, Kaduna 93 vehicles seized, Zone C PortHarcourt- 37 vehicles seized and Zone D, Bauchi Nil.

    Ali revealed that the NCS has realized that dealers now hide smuggled vehicles in their houses, noting that the law empowers the service to “go to their bedroom.”

  • Minister tasks Customs on import levy

    Minister tasks Customs on import levy

    The Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Tuesday, tasked the Director-General of Nigeria Customs Service and African Union Commission to bring on board the issue of 0.2 per cent import levy and come out with the guidelines for its implementation.

    She based the call for the implementation on making it a permanent source of funding for implementation by all members states as a permanent source of funding activities of the Commission.

    Adeosun made this disclosure at the first extraordinary meeting of the African Union sub-committee of Directors-General of Customs in Abuja.

    The minister also pointed out to the meeting that Africa cannot continue to settle for the position of the biggest world’s buyer without selling to the world market in return.

    According to her, the continent must come to the trade table as an equal partner that is buying and selling in order to correct the age-long embarrassment that has made its economy vulnerable.

    Her words: “But on a more serious note, I really do welcome you. I hope that the conversation would be deep, I hope they would be robust, I hope that they would be patriotic to Africa. We need an African focus.

    “We cannot continue to be the world’s biggest market for anybody who wants to sell anything. We need to come to the trade table as equal partners, selling as well as buying. And we must correct some historical embarrasses that have made our economies very vulnerable.”

    The minister noted that Nigeria is not just African’s largest economy by size but African’s largest economy by impact, stressing that the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali has shown the way that Africans ought to go as the largest economy by initiative- spearheading and hosting the meeting.

    She revealed to the meeting that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is very committed to the ease of doing business and it has recently outlined a number of some radical changes in the expectation of the public for service delivery.

    The Nigeria Customs Service, said the minister, is the is the first part of the changes, which has called for the need to re-engineer some of the processes that the meeting was expected to come up with the strategies for their implementation.

    Speaking, Ali retired, recalled that since the decision to hold the meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe in November 2016, the service had been mobilising personnel and materials to provide a conducive environment and a befitting welcome to make it most successful.

    He said it was the expectation of the Nigerian Customs that the meeting would bring all the African Union Customs Administration together to articulate a common agenda and speak in unison during the World Customs Organization’s Annual General Council Meeting coming up in July 2017.

    The meeting, according to him, would afford the African continent the opportunity to occupy the rightful position in the WCO within the administrative and political hierarchy and exert an authority to influence policies that will be beneficial to the continent and enhance the intra-African trade.

  • Customs remove HND dichotomy, promotes 3487 officers

    Customs remove HND dichotomy, promotes 3487 officers

    Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) officers who are holders of Higher National Diploma (HND), on Monday received good news from the Comptroller General, Col. Hameed Ali, who raised their salary grade from 07 to level 08.

    The Customs boss, who decorated some of the 3,487 senior officers that were newly promoted in Abuja, told them that their promotion was purely on merit and a call for more work.

    He also announced that the rank structure of the Nigeria Customs Service has been aligned with that of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

    The decisions, according to him, were expected to boost the morale of the officers and eliminate confusion in the seniority of officers.

    His words: “In compliance with circular Ref: HCSF/EIR/CND/100/ST/98 of 8th September, 2016 from Head of Service of the Federation and the approval of Government since April 1992 for the Nigeria Customs Service to align with the Nigeria Police Force rank restructure and in fulfillment of the CGC’s mandate to reorganize and reform the Nigeria Customs Service. The CGC has directed as follows:

    [quote font_size=”18″ color=”#000000″ bgcolor=”#dda552″ bcolor=”#dd3333″ arrow=”yes”]“i) All HND holders currently on salary grade level 07 are automatically moved to salary grade level 08. Supplementary budget will be made for payment of arrears of salary;

    ii) The rank structure of the service is aligned with the Nigeria Police Force forthwith;

    iii) Officers in the Inspectorate Cadre on Salary Level 08 and above are to align to appropriate rank in the Superintendent Cadre.[/quote]

    “This is expected to boost the morale of officers and eliminate confusion in the seniority of officers.”

    Ali told the officers that the days of basing promotion on sentiments are over, stressing leverage of federal character that they enjoy at the point of entry, what counts soon after that is merit and hard-work.

    He said that the promoted officers which include the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Joseph Attah that is now a Deputy Comptroller, do not owe anyone any gratitude except God and their efforts that earned them the promotion.

    The Comptroller General said: “we had in the past promoted people who did not deserve it and that was what we met in the management. But now merit is key to your promotion.”

    He also announced that the Customs and Command College, will in June commence operation as a full command.

  • Customs boss confirms Attah substantive PRO, redeploys assistant comptrollers

    Customs boss confirms Attah substantive PRO, redeploys assistant comptrollers

    The Comptroller General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali, has confirmed Joseph Attah as the substantive Public Relations Officer of the service.

    Ali has also redeployed 337 Assistant Comptrollers to various area commands across the country.

    Mr Abubakar Dalhatu, the Deputy Public Relations Officer, announced this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, saying the redeployment was with immediate effect.

    Attah, before his confirmation as the substantive PRO, worked as the Deputy PRO of the service and was later appointed as the acting PRO in January following the transfer of the former spokesman, Mr Wale Adeniyi to Apapa, Lagos.

    Before moving to the Public Relations Unit, Attah had also worked in various units of the service, including the Intelligence Unit, Tincan Island Port, land border and excise.

    Dalhatu said that the redeployment was part of the ongoing repositioning of the service.

    He said the comptroller-general charged the affected officers to support the leadership of their new commands in the renewed efforts to entrench a more transparent culture of service delivery.

    Dalhatu quoted the customs boss as saying “so much is expected from NCS in terms of economic and security well-being of the country; we cannot afford to fail the nation”.

     

  • No regret stopping elite from accessing waivers – Customs CG

    No regret stopping elite from accessing waivers – Customs CG

    The Customs Comptroller General, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), has confirmed total blockage of access to frivolous waivers, reduced or non-payment of duties on imported items by highly placed Nigerians and influential politicians.

    Ali, while explaining that he would not honour the Senate invitation on Wednesday due to a writ of summons sent to his office by court, said the directive on the collection of duties on imported cars has been misinterpreted by Nigerians as the policy was in line with the extant laws guiding the operations of the service.

    He said as one of the defendants in a case filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, by a lawyer, Barr. Mohammed Ibrahim, on his status as a mufti-wearing Customs Comptroller General, it would be subjudice for him to appear before the Senate which has compelled him to appear in the Customs uniform.

    Ali made these disclosures on Tuesday in Abuja at an interactive session with the media.

    The originating summons, which has the National Assembly and the Attorney General of the Federation as defendants seek, among many others, a clarification on “whether the appointment of Ali by the President having been made pursuant to Sections 5 and 171 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) can be subjected to the provisions of the Customs and Excise Act or any other law; whether there is any legal provision that prescribes the wearing of uniform as a condition precedent by the 1st defendant (Ali) in view of his appointment under Section 171 of the 1999 Constitution (as emended).

    He said it was the opinion of his lawyers and that of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Federation it would be subjudice for him to appear before the Senate on the pending issues before them which also form the fulcrum of the case before the court.

    “Based on the advice from lawyers and briefing from the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice who is also a party in the suit, I won’t be appearing before the Senate tomorrow until the court decides otherwise.”

    Speaking on why he insisted that all duties must be paid without giving undue advantage to highly placed businessmen and influential Nigerians as it was the case in the past, Ali said the law is clear on what should be paid by these persons who mostly import exotic cars and luxury goods with the belief that they can always get waivers due to their status.

    He said many of such cases have been stopped and the items impounded if the affected importers decline to pay appropriate duties.

     

     

  • APC to intervene in Senate, Ali face-off

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday said it would intervene in the face-off between the Senate and Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (retd).

    The party made this known in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in Abuja.

    The party said that it took the decision after observing the controversy that had trailed the invitation extended to Ali by the Senate and his appearance at the chamber on Thursday.

    “We have watched the issues with growing concern and the expectations that they would be resolved in a manner that would be agreeable to all the parties involved.

    “However, we wish to state that at this point, we have found it necessary to intervene.

    “Accordingly, the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun will lead the party’s peace mission to the leadership of the National Assembly and the concerned party member,’’ the statement said.

    It expressed confidence that its effort to broker peace would resolve the matter amicably.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Senate had been embroiled in a face-off with the Customs boss over his refusal to appear before it the service’s uniform

     

  • Customs’ proposed duty on old vehicles triggers protest in Onitsha

    The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations of Nigeria (COSCON), on Wednesday demonstrated against the duty imposed on old vehicles by Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali.

    The coalition drew members from  Campaign for Democracy; Human Rights, Justice and Peace Foundation; the Flagship, Peoples Liberation Initiative, Revolutionary Ambassadors, Action for Socio-political and Economical Change, Enugu Forum of Patriots, among others.

    The protesters, dressed in black, carried placards with inscriptions from the Onitsha South mini stadium, Fegge to Customs Zonal Office on Onitsha–Enugu expressway in Onitsha.

    Some of their placards read: “Blame your officers not Nigerians”, “Nigerian CSOs condemn Ali’s illegalities”, “Stop the executive recklessness”, and “Hameed Ali is not above the law” , among others.

    The National Coordinator of COSCON, Mr Noel Udeoji, said the group was not against generating revenue for the Federal Government, but against imposition of duty on old vehicles already plying the roads.

    Udeoji said it was the responsibility of Customs Service to collect duty on imported vehicles from importers at the entry points or car dealers and not buyers or owners of such vehicles.

    “We condemn in its entirety the recent order that owners of all old vehicles must pay custom duties on or before April 12.

    “This is totally unacceptable and hereby rejected. We hereby call for the resignation or sack of the customs boss”, he said.

    Mr Omobude Agho, President of the Flagship, described the policy as “obnoxious, evil, demonic and retrogressive”, stressing that “the policy is detrimental to hungry Nigerian masses

    “We must remind Ali that we are in democracy and not in military era and he must learn to respect the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians, more so, when the National Assembly has called him to order.

    “He is trying to impose outrageous policy which will only encourage poverty the more”, Agho said.

    Publicity Secretary of CD, Mr Dede Uzor said CSOs would not fold their arms and allow the Comptroller-General of Customs rip-off Nigerians through such policy.

    Uzor disclosed that the protest would be carried out in other states of the country if the policy was not reversed within 48 hours.

    The protesters from Edo, Enugu, Rivers, Delta and Anambra states, chanted solidarity songs and were accompanied by security officials.

    Customs officials locked up their gates on sighting the protesters, forcing the protesters to drop a copy of their protest letter at the gate before leaving.

  • Customs chief must appear before us in uniform – Senate

    The Senate on Thursday mandated the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), to appear in plenary in appropriate uniform on March 15, to address the issue of Customs tax duties on vehicles.

    This followed a Point of Order raised by Senator Dino Melaye on a publication in Daily Sun newspaper of March 9, which reads: “Customs dares Senate, says no going back on implementation of duties on old vehicles.”

    The Senate had recently directed the Customs to stop the proposed plan to punish anyone that fail to pay duties on vehicles within a month of bringing them into the country.

    The resolution followed a motion by Deputy Majority Leader, Senator Bala Na’Allah, who described the new policy as a serious matter.

    According to Melaye, the most important arm of government is the legislature and the Nigeria Customs cannot function without the National Assembly.

    “The customs cannot spend or survive without appropriation and oversight.

    “And if this Senate will take a resolution and an agency of government will have the guts and the strength to disregard the institution of the senate, it is not good for democracy,” he said.

    Melaye said government existed to serve the people and not the people in government, adding that if the “Senate had taken a position in the interest of Nigerians and an institution of government would disrespect the Senate, it is unacceptable.”

    “I hope this was a misrepresentation that they did not take that position.

    “This comment can only be made in a military government, where an individual, a parastatal or an institution of government will confront the power of the Senate.”

    NAN