The House of Representatives on Tuesday urged Mrs Kemi Andeosun, the Minister of Finance, to immediately constitute the Board of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The call followed a motion by Rep.Kingsley Chinda (River-PDP).
Moving the motion, Chinda said that the Customs Board was established under Section 1 sub-section 2 of the Nigeria Customs Service Board Act and placed under the control of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
He said the powers being exercised by the Customs, Immigration and Prison Service Board to appoint and promote Customs’ staff were vested in the NCS Board under section 4 of its Act.
According to him, Section 2 (1) of the said Act provides for the composition or membership of the board while Section 3 (a) and (b) (i) and (ii) provides for the functions of the board.
Chinda, therefore, expressed concern that the absence of the Board was a contravention of the provisions of the Act and that it was affecting effective functioning of the Service.
He said that the Act provided that the board should subject to the general control of the Minister, control and manage the administration of the Customs and Excise laws.
He added that the law also empowered the board and the service to collect the revenues of customs and excise and account for them in such a manner as the minister would from time to time, direct.
The lawmaker stated that unless the anomaly in the non-composition of the NCS board was urgently addressed, “the whole essence of the Act will be defeated”.
The motion was unanimously adopted by members when it was put to a voice vote by the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara.
In his ruling, the speaker mandated the Committee on Customs and Excise to ensure implementation of the resolution and report back to the house in four weeks, according to NAN.