President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Frank Jacobs, has disclosed that the Comptroller General of Customs, Hammed Ali confirmed to him (Jacobs) that there is no missing N30 trillion from the nation’s coffers as claimed by the Chairman of Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, Hope Uzodinma.
Uzodinma recently threatened to order the arrest of chief executives of some private companies who failed to honour the committee’s invitation to a public hearing on the alleged missing money.
Last week, Uzodinma claimed that N120 billion has so far been recovered from some companies, which he did not disclose, from the alleged missing revenue.
Uzodinma’s claim that 282 ships were “missing” from the port has also been refuted by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
But MAN president, Frank Jacobs, who address a press conference in Lagos, said, “I have engaged the Comptroller General of Customs and he said as far as he knows, there are no such leakages.
“If they (Senate Committee) have been unable to get their information from Customs, why will they bother us? It shows a failure of leadership. The Customs as far as I know said nothing is missing.”
He said MAN’s finding showed that most of the CEOs were not in the country during the time of the Senate committee’s meeting, which informed the deployment of “very senior and competent officials from their respective organisations” to stand in for them.
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