Finance Minister, Customs' Boss in War of Words...Read Details

  

Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and the Comptroller-General of Customs Service, Colonel Hameed Ali (retd), engaged in war of words late on Wednesday, during a budget defence session at the Senate, according to the Nigerian Tribune.

Ali, who was appearing before the Senate Committee on Finance, a session also attended by Adeosun, had told the committee that Customs Service deserved a special salary package to improve on the morale and the collections of the Service.

But the minister whose ministry supervises the Customs Service disagreed sharply, telling the committee that Customs could only seek a special salary if it improves on its Internally Generated Revenue. Ali stated that the best way to discourage corruption and inefficeiency in the Customs Service was to ensure that the officers enjoyed special salary scale.

She stated that the practice all over the world is that the Customs enjoys special salary package after improving their collections, adding that the service should expect a performance-based remuneration package.

Ali also accused the Ministry of Finance of denying Customs some huge earnings because of waivers being granted to big corporations.

“If the big companies were given waivers, is it the smaller companies that should then pay custom duties?” he asked.

The Customs boss also said some non-revenue generating agencies were currently receiving  better salaries than men of the Customs Service.