NCS Comptroller, Ali frustrating $3.1bn modernisation project – Investors tell court

A Federal High Court in Abuja has been told that the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, (NCS), Col Hameed Ali is frustrating the $3.1bn Customs Modernisation Project by seeking to reverse the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval granted for the project.

The allegations of frustration of the new Cargo Tracking Policy billed to generate huge revenue for the Federal Government were brought against the incumbent Customs Comptroller General before Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo.

A group of investors approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC to undertake the Customs Modernization Project claimed that the Customs Chief on his own amended the modernization policy without recourse to the Federal Executive Council that granted the initial approval.

Among others, Ali was said to have unilaterally brought into the modernization project, two new companies that were not among those approved by President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Executive Council at its September 2020 meeting.

In a counter affidavit to a motion seeking to terminate a lawsuit on the disputed $3.1bn Cargo tracking policy, the investors led by one Umaru Tanko Kuta named Trade Modernization Project Limited and Bergman Security Consultant and Supplies Limited as two firms allegedly unlawfully brought into the project