The feud between the Senate and Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs
Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.), resurfaced on Monday in Abuja.
Trouble
started when the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Economic Waste visited the
Customs Headquarters in Abuja as part of its oversight functions.
The
drama was triggered by remarks made by Chairman of the Committee,
Senator Dino Melaye, over the way the Senate delegation was received by
the Customs high command.
Melaye said by
protocol, the Customs chief was expected to come down from his office to
welcome the committee members into the Custom premises.
The Kogi
West lawmaker said it was a breach of protocol for the Customs CG to
casually meet the delegation at the conference room.
Melaye said
the practice of ushering in the Senate delegation has been the practice
with statutory bodies like Customs, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS),
Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) and others over the years.
He
wondered why such established etiquette which was the norm under
previous Customs chiefs was not accorded the committee by Ali.
Melaye
said: “Before reading the prepared speech of the committee, let me make
this small remark on what we have just observed here in form of breach
of protocols.
“Mr. CG, rather than meeting us here at the
conference room by way of courtesy, you supposed to have met us at the
ground floor on arrival into the premises.
“That has been the
practice of statutory bodies headed by Chief Executive Officers like
you. Relevant Senate committees have over the years been accorded this
by bosses of Immigration Service, Prison Service and others, making us
to wonder why it was not so here today under your leadership.
“Therefore
before proceeding further, on account of this observation, we want the
Customs management to know that the presence of this committee before it
implies that the Senate itself is before it to put things in order as
regards the economic waste taking place in the Customs Service requiring
the seriousness it deserves from you and the entire management.”
The
Customs CG told the Senate delegation that the agency has its own
protocol that is different from other public establishments.
Ali
said: “We have our own protocol as regards receiving visitors like you. I
don’t need to come downstairs to receive you just as nobody in the
Senate or House of Representatives has ever come out to receive us
anytime we visit the National Assembly.”
