The
House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on Monday summoned the
Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed; Director-General, Budget Office of the
Federation, Ben Akabueze; and other officials of the Ministry of Finance to
shed light on duty waivers granted to some companies.
Committee
Chairman, Hon. Wole Oke, issued the summon at the ongoing investigative hearing
on audited accounts of government ministries, departments and agencies and some
private companies in Abuja.
Oke
said that the DG Budget and the minister should appear before the committee
within seven days to clear the air on the duty waivers granted to Saipem
Contracting Limited on N468 million worth of equipment and other items it
imported into the country.
He
asked: “Why can’t we ask the minister and the DG to give us a comprehensive
list of waivers granted these companies within 14 days. We should also invite
the beneficiary companies that got waivers. I want to see these items and the
value of the duties paid on them.”
Responding
to questions from the lawmakers, Mr Melvin Daje, who represented the Managing
Director of Saipem Contracting Ltd, said that they pay their duties directly to
the equipment manufacturers.
He
also told the committee that Saipem is an indigenous oil servicing company that
is involved in oil facilities servicing with major oil producing companies in
Nigeria.
He
said that the company had been involved in the oil business for over 50 years
and that they engage in importation of oil servicing equipment from all
countries of the world.
The
committee also grilled the management of Crocodile Matchet Ltd on their duty
payments and other issues
A
representative of the managing director of the firm, Mrs Ehi Osezuah, however
said that they had not done importation for a long time.
Oke,
who had earlier noted that some of the invited companies had submitted that
they have import duty exemption, however demanded that the invited companies
avail the committee the description of imported machines, value of invoices and
country of importation.
He
directed the Clerk to write the Federal Ministry of Industry, Nigeria Customs
Service and the Nigeria Immigration Service on the issues that pertain to their
respective operations on the matter.
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