The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, approved the purchase of three locally manufactured boats for the Nigeria Customs Service for its surveillance and anti-corruption activities on the maritime waters.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) also approved a revision of the 2020 Budget from N10.594 trillion to N10.523 trillion, reflecting a N71.5 billion downwards review.
Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, who disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents after the virtual FEC meeting at the State House, also said an amendment to the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF for 2020-2022 was approved.
The Nigeria Customs Service currently has two seagoing vessels which have suffer setback since there deployment to Nigeria.
The vessels ; namely MV Group of Nine and MV Customs Pride were imported into the country in 2015 under the Abdullahi Dikko Inde management of the service.
The current Comptroller General of the Customs ,Col . Hameed Ali alongside top security agencies last September commissoned the ships , aimed at curbing smuggling activities at sea .
The vessels were deployed to the western and eastern commands of the service.
Currently, the NCS as at present now has four marine commands, namely Western Marine, Eastern Maritime, North Western Marine and North Eastern Marine commands.
By Roland Ekama
