The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise has expressed concern over the huge revenue loss due to the continued closure of some of the nation’s land borders.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Leke Abejide, stated this while speaking in Kaduna during an oversight visit to zone B of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Thursday.
The zone comprises Kano/Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto/Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger/Kogi, Kwara and the FCT Commands of the Service as well as the Federal Operation Unit.
The Committee Chairman who led other members on the oversight visit said the continued closure of the land borders was not in the economic interest of the country.
Hon. Abejide made the assertion because of the poor revenue generated by many of the commands which they complained and attributed to the continued closure of the borders which was affecting their operations adding that, smuggling of goods still go on in the zone.
Hon Abejide said there is the need for a joint security operation to curb insecurity that has also impacted heavily on revenue generation in the zone.
He stated that the committee would sponsor a motion when the House resume from its annual vacation in collaboration with other security related committees and their Senate counterparts to find a lasting solution.
He expressed disappointment with the revenue efforts of some of the commands, despite having the complement of a number of staff and demanded the expenditure of such commands.
He said the Committee might be compelled to recommend merging of some of the none performing commands, saying they cannot continue to draw funds generated by other commands, while contributing little or nothing.
He particularly expressed concern with the presentation of the Katsina command as regards revenue generation.
Hon. Abejide said what the command was contributing to the coffer was not encouraging enough, despite having about 331 staff, the command could only generate about ₦140 million in six months.
However, the comptroller, Abba-Aji Idriss attributed the low revenue to the continued closure of the border stations in the state, saying out of the 11 border stations, only Jibia/ Magama border was officially opened adding that the revenue generated did not come from the border.
The comptroller said many of the border stations were not accessible to his men because of the activities of bandits that have taken over the areas, saying “even the military cannot access the areas”.
Speaking, a member of the committee, Hon. Sa’ad Taura, said the committee must find a way of addressing the challenges and ruled out the option of asking the military to take over the border posts.
Another member of the committee, Hon. Shehu Fagge, said the House must do something to reclaim the land borders, especially the Jibia border which he described as the largest land border in the North.
He said, “We cannot allow it to go. If the Comptroller is telling us that the border is gone, we need to do something about it as a committee. That is one of the reasons we are here”.
On his part, the Comptroller, Sokoto/Zamfara Command said there was serious pressure on his command because of the permit to allow PMS from Dangote Refinery in the Lekki Free Trade zone pass through the border into Niger Republic which has been withdrawn from the office of the National Security Adviser.
He said with a high demand for PMS in Niger Republic, there was the tendency of increased activities by smugglers of the product into Niger.
Commands under the zone generated about ₦96.042 billion within the first six months of the year except Niger/Kogi Command which generated zero naira.