WASHINGTON: The Senate yesterday amended the Customs and Excise Management Act CAP C.45 of 2004, subjecting the appointment of the Comptroller-General of the Customs to its confirmation. This followed the approval of the report of the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, Hope Uzodinma (PDP, Imo) on the amendment of the Customs law. Sixty-five clauses in the law were amended. Clause 13 (1) of the Customs Act that reads, “there shall be appointed from the Customs Service, a Comptroller-General” has been replaced with, “the President shall appoint from the Customs Service, subject to the confirmation of the Senate, a Comptroller-General”. It also introduced the use of mandatory pre-shipment and post-shipment for proper check of consignments at both point of origination and destination.
The Senate also scrapped the governing board of the Customs and establish the Nigeria Customs Service Commission to superintend over the administration of the service. The commission would be headed by a chairman, who would be a retired career Comptroller General or Deputy Comptroller General, who would be appointed by the President, for a period of four years. The appointment is also subject to the confirmation by the Senate and renewable once. Uzodinma said the commission would be responsible for managing policies of the NCS, or matters pertaining to administration, assessment, collection and accounting for revenues, as may be directed by the Minister of Finance from time to time. It would also be responsible for managing all issues relating to employment, training, welfare, and discipline of officers of the NCS, with the approval of the appropriate authority of the Federal Government.
