Reps approve Customs & Excise Act amendment bill for second time

The House of Representatives has for the second time approved the Customs and Excise Management Act amendment bill, 2022.

The approval followed the consideration of the report of the House Committee on Customs and Exercise by the Committee of the Whole at plenary on Wednesday.

The proposed legislation is titled: “A Bill for an Act to repeal the Customs and Excise Management Act, Cap. C45, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and other Customs and Excise Legislation and Enact the Nigeria Customs Service Act, 2022 to Provide for the Reform of the Administration and Management of Customs and Excise in Nigeria; and for Related Matters.”

It seeks to position the Nigerian Customs Service to be financially stable in order to recruit the required number of officers needed to man Nigeria’s porous border stations.

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The bill provides stiffer punishments for offenders to act as deterrence for serious economic crimes of Customs and Excise oriented, thereby encouraging more revenue in the area of fine payment.

The bill was first passed and sent to President to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent in 2022 it was returned due to observation to addressed by lawmakers.

It was consequently recommitted to the Committee of the Whole for reconsideration and approval for another transmission to the President for assent.

Presenting the recommitted bill for consideration, Leke Abejide, the chairman of the House committee on Customs and Excise said it has been considered twice before, but on both occasions needed adjustments.

Abejide stated that only one clause which deals with the leadership needs looking at and called on Honorable members to consider it.

He said “this bill is not new. It came the first time and was adjusted. It came the second time and was adjusted. This time, it is only one clause that was in the original and was omitted from the amendment bill.

“The other area, we already dealt with it the last time. The Ministry of Finance complained that the Chairman of the Board should be the Minister and not a retired Deputy Comptroller General of Customs and we corrected it here.

“Anywhere in the bill where the board Chairman appear, it was supposed to be changed to Minister. But when they were doing the clean up, they didn’t change that”.