The Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), retired Col. Hameed Ali, has said the service will pay N1.819 billion claims to families of deceased officers between 2009 and 2014, and sue four insurance firms that had defaulted.
Declaring this, Tuesday, while inaugurating a committee to clear the claims’ backlog within six weeks in three tranches, Col. Ali said the consortium comprising Niger Insurance, Great Nigeria Insurance, Chrome Insurance and Country and City Insurance did not pay the Group Life Assurance and Group Personal Accidents liabilities during the period.
He said: “We have taken all the steps that we can, including reporting them to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) but to no avail. Maybe we will end up, with the advice of the legal adviser; going to court.”
Tasking the seven-man committee, he said: “Every kobo will be paid with the supervision of the office of the CGC. It is our hope that this will alleviate the sufferings of our people.”
Also inaugurating an eight-man committee to distribute perishable goods seized by NCS, he said customs warehouses were filled and the goods should be distributed before the rainy season.
