From Ndubuisi Orji and Kemi Yesufu, Abuja
The House of Representatives has said the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service ( NCS), Col. Hammed Ali (retd) must appear before its Ad-hoc committee investigating the return on insurance premium paid to government officials between 2013 and 2015.
Ali, who was summoned by the committee penultimate Friday, failed to show up at a resumed hearing at the weekend. Rather, he was represented by a Deputy Comptroller General (DCG) in charge of Human Resources, Mr Austin Warikoru.
The DCG was, however, not allowed to speak for the Service as the panel disclosed there was no formal communication from Ali that he would send a representative to the Hearing.
Expressing displeasure over inability of Ali’s absence, Chairman, Adekunle Akinlade said he must appear before the committee at its next sitting or write to the committee within three working days to indicate the earliest possible date he can appear.
Akinlade, who accused Ali of treating the committee with levity, also said not only has the NCS failed to honour the committee’s summon, they have also failed to make submissions to the committee on insurance transactions in the period under review.
“It is very important that the CG must come here in person.
“We have established so many infractions. He must make himself available to this committee. Failure to do that, we might be forced to explore other avenues to make sure he appears, even if he has to be carried,” said Akinlade.
He, then, directed the NCS to submit documents relating to all insurance covers from 2013 to 2015, latest Wednesday, November 9.
Meanwhile, Fortis Insurance Brokers Limited, listed in the documents submitted to the committe as one the brokerage firms engaged bhe NCS between 2013 and 2015 has denied ever doing any business with the agency.
In a letter dated November 1, 2016, the firm’s Managing Director, Chief Lawrence Dafiode said “we wish to reiterate categorically that we had never participated in the insurance of Nigeria Customs Service and had never been a recipient of such commission.”