By Ayo Fadimu
The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise says recruiting competent hands into the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) will help tackle security challenges facing the country.
Rep. Jafaru Mohammed (APC-Niger) a member of the committee said this on Tuesday in Abuja during the 2021 NCS budget presentation by retired Col. Ahmed Ali, Comptroller General of the service.
The lawmaker said that recruitment into NCS must take into consideration the security situation in the country.
He added that there was need to stop the influx of unapproved fire arms into the country, adding that the recruitment must focus on competence and fitness.
He said that the country was working to put a stop to the current security challenges, adding that those to be recruited must be men and women of integrity that would not compromised.
Rep. Dandutse Mohammed (APC-Katsina) and a member of the committee said that the NCS needed more men that would put an end to the current security challenges in the country.
“As lawmakers we have to talk because we are interested in peace and the stability of this country and the responsibilities lie on the NCS policing our boarders,” he said.
He said that some of his constituents were killed on March 29 by foreigners, adding that there must be a holistic approach to curtail the activities of foreigners having inroad into the country.
Ali, however, said that in 2020, NCS earmarked N6.090 billion for recruitment into the service while in 2021 it earmarked N8.98 billion for same purpose.
He added that the amount would cover training, allowances and salary.
He said that the NCS no doubt needed more men to police the nation’s borders, adding that the service would do all within its power to secure the nation’s borders.
He said that the N1.4 trillion revenue target for 2021 should be retained adding that there was no need to be unnecessarily ambitious in setting target for the service to forestall any backlash.
“I don’t want us to be too ambitious, the moral of the officers should not be dampened , let us retain the N1.4 trillion target and if we get anything above that it will be reflected in the nation’s revenue,” he said.
He said that the Federal Government set the target based on some parameters, adding that the Federal Government has done its projection before arriving at the figure.
Rep. Leke Abejide, the chairman of the committee had earlier asked that the revenue target be raised to N1.679 trillion instead of the N1.4 trillion proposed by the NCS.