* Issues 4-day ultimatum to Hadiza to honour its
invitation
The Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, and
Marine Transport has queried the Nigerian Ports Authority over 282
vessels allegedly missing from the nation’s sea ports.
This is as the committee frowned at the failure of the Managing
Director of the NPA, Ms. Hadiza Usman, to appear before it, at two
consecutive meetings despite invitations extended to her.
The Chairman of the joint Committee, Hope Uzodinma, speaking
yesterday during the investigative hearing on the al- leged N30
trillion leakages in Customs and other agencies, said the committee
would consider it to be a financial crime, if Usman fails to
provide the explanations required of her.
The committee subsequently issued a four day ultimatum to Usman
to provide explana- tion on the whereabouts of the missing
vessels.
“We are looking for these vessels. We have the dates of arrival,
the ports of discharge and manifest. Everything is with us, but
from information available to us, no money was collected by either
the Customs, the NPA or any other person. So, you have four days to
do your written explanation otherwise we will consider it a
financial crime,” Uzodinma said.
“There are also recent missing vessels that we discovered. I
mean recent ones that happened under the new management. The NPA is
the custodian of the vessels, it received the cargoes and the
terminal is theirs. We want to know under whose authority the
cargoes were released,” Uzodinma added.
The Senator also disclosed that the committee’s preliminary
investigations have revealed that the activities of a cabal at the
ports had cost the country over N30 trillion in loss of
revenue.
The cabal, he said, connive with officials to carry out the
infractions in daily transactions at the ports, commercial banks,
shipping companies, terminal owners and operators.
“The nature and methodolo- gies of these infractions include
abuse of Form M and violation of foreign exchange manual issued by
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), incorrect classification,
under-valuation, under-declaration and incorrect declaration.
Others are incorrect origin, error in calculation, tem- porary
importation, exemptions and waivers, forex manipula- tions, unit
cost analysis an excise, smuggling and illegal removal of cargo
from terminals, lack of exit certificate by vessels,” he said.
Uzondinma however pledged the determination of the com- mittee
to work with relevant agencies to stop the fraudulent practices,
adding that all those indicted would be prosecuted according to the
law.
“We shall zero our search light on these areas of infraction
and
we are certain that our suspi- cions shall be confirmed. Nigeria
Customs Service, Nigeria Ports Authority, Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Shippers
Council (NSC), ship- ping companies, operators of bonded terminals
and importers and exporters have questions to answer,’’ he
said.
The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki who declared the
hearing open reiterated that the Senate would expose corruption
while carrying out its oversight functions, and block all loopholes
that allow leakages in the system.
“We are determined to reverse these financial leakages to en-
able us get the much needed resources to fund our children’s
education, healthcare and fix the potholes on our roads. I urge you
not to leave any stone unturned to ensure that we in- crementally
eliminate waste and corruption in the management of our
resources,’’ Saraki said.
* Issues 4-day ultimatum to Hadiza to honour its
invitation
The Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, and
Marine Transport has queried the Nigerian Ports Authority over 282
vessels allegedly missing from the nation’s sea ports.
This is as the committee frowned at the failure of the Managing
Director of the NPA, Ms. Hadiza Usman, to appear before it, at two
consecutive meetings despite invitations extended to her.
The Chairman of the joint Committee, Hope Uzodinma, speaking
yesterday during the investigative hearing on the al- leged N30
trillion leakages in Customs and other agencies, said the committee
would consider it to be a financial crime, if Usman fails to
provide the explanations required of her.
The committee subsequently issued a four day ultimatum to Usman
to provide explana- tion on the whereabouts of the missing
vessels.
“We are looking for these vessels. We have the dates of arrival,
the ports of discharge and manifest. Everything is with us, but
from information available to us, no money was collected by either
the Customs, the NPA or any other person. So, you have four days to
do your written explanation otherwise we will consider it a
financial crime,” Uzodinma said.
“There are also recent missing vessels that we discovered. I
mean recent ones that happened under the new management. The NPA is
the custodian of the vessels, it received the cargoes and the
terminal is theirs. We want to know under whose authority the
cargoes were released,” Uzodinma added.
The Senator also disclosed that the committee’s preliminary
investigations have revealed that the activities of a cabal at the
ports had cost the country over N30 trillion in loss of
revenue.
The cabal, he said, connive with officials to carry out the
infractions in daily transactions at the ports, commercial banks,
shipping companies, terminal owners and operators.
“The nature and methodolo- gies of these infractions include
abuse of Form M and violation of foreign exchange manual issued by
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), incorrect classification,
under-valuation, under-declaration and incorrect declaration.
Others are incorrect origin, error in calculation, tem- porary
importation, exemptions and waivers, forex manipula- tions, unit
cost analysis an excise, smuggling and illegal removal of cargo
from terminals, lack of exit certificate by vessels,” he said.
Uzondinma however pledged the determination of the com- mittee
to work with relevant agencies to stop the fraudulent practices,
adding that all those indicted would be prosecuted according to the
law.
“We shall zero our search light on these areas of infraction
and
we are certain that our suspi- cions shall be confirmed. Nigeria
Customs Service, Nigeria Ports Authority, Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Shippers
Council (NSC), ship- ping companies, operators of bonded terminals
and importers and exporters have questions to answer,’’ he
said.
The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki who declared the
hearing open reiterated that the Senate would expose corruption
while carrying out its oversight functions, and block all loopholes
that allow leakages in the system.
“We are determined to reverse these financial leakages to en-
able us get the much needed resources to fund our children’s
education, healthcare and fix the potholes on our roads. I urge you
not to leave any stone unturned to ensure that we in- crementally
eliminate waste and corruption in the management of our
resources,’’ Saraki said.