Reps Committee seeks 100 percent salary review for Customs officers

The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise has recommended a 100 percent salary review for Officers and men of the service.

The Committee has also expressed concern over the continuous closure of some Nigerian land borders, saying the country was losing huge revenue due to the closure.

Speaking in Kaduna whe he led other members of the Committee on an oversight visit to zone B of the Nigeria Customs Service, Chairman of the Committee, Leke Abejide said the committee recognise the need to improve on the welfare of Customs officers.

He said “in the 2025 budget, we approved an upward review of salaries for Cudtoms officers. But lack of funds has hampered the implementation. I am sure that with the 4 percent Free on Board (FOB), they will be have enough money to implement it”

He also said the continuous closure of the borders was not in the economic interest of the country.

The zone compromise Kano/Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto/Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger/Kogi, Kwara nd the FCT Commands of the Service as well as the Federal Operation Unit.

He spoke in view of poor revenue generated by many of the command who complained that the continous closure was affecting their operations even though smuggling of goods still go on in the zone.

Abejide spoke of the need for joint security operation to curb insecurity that has also impacted heavily on revenue generation in the zone.

According to him, the committee will sponsor a motion when the House resume from its annual vacation in collaboration with other security related committee and possible their Senate counterpart with a view to finding lasting solution.

He however expressed disappointment with the revenue efforts of some of the commands, despite having the complement of a number of staff and demanded the expenditure of such commands.

He said the Committee may be compeled to recommend merging some of the none performing commands, saying they cannot continue to draw funds generated by other commands, while contributing little or nothing.

Reacting to the presentation of the Katsina command, Abejide said what the command was contributing to the coffer was not encouraging enough, saying despite have about 331 staff, the command could only generate about ₦140 million in six months.

But the comptroller, Abba-Aji Idriss attributed the low revenue to the continous closure of the border stations in the state, saying out of the 11 border stations, only Jibia Magama border was officially opened, but was quick to add that the revenue generated did not come from the border.

The comptroller said many of the border stations were no accessible to his men because of the activities of bandits that has taken over the areas, saying “even the military cannot access the areas”.

A member of the committee, Sa’ad Taura said the committee must find a way of addressing the challenge, while ruling out the option of asking the military to take over the border posts.

Another member, Shehu Fagae said the House must do something to reclaim the land borders, especially the Jibia border which he described s the largest land border in the North.

He said “we cannot allow it to go. If the Comptroller is telling us that the border is gone, we need to do something about it as a committee. That is one of the reasons we are here”.

Comptroller of the Sokoto/Zamfara command said there was serious pressure on his command because of the permit to allow PMS from Dangote Refinery in the Lekki Free Trade zone pass through the border into Niger Republic which has been withdrawn from the office of the National Security Adviser.

He said with a high demand for PMS in Niger Republic, there was the tedency of an increased activities by smugglers of the product into Niger.

In terms of revenue generation, commands under the zone generated about ₦96.042 billion within the first six months of the year, with one command, Niger/Kogi generating zero naira.