Beyond Nigeria Customs Denial Of Dismissals, Disturbing Ugly Truths Emerge From Story
The Oasis Reporters
January 27, 2017
Photo : TheWill
There’s no gainsaying the fact that all the sea ports in Nigeria are located in the South.
Amongst all the land borders in the country, the only ones that yield reasonable revenue to the coffers of the Federal inland revenue are located in the South.
Almost all the lucrative airports in the country are also in the South. The major patrons of the ports are also Southerners.
Yet it remains amazing that the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, has and always been controlled by northerners.
In the last forty years, it is doubtful if any Southerner has been allowed to head the organization for any considerable length of time except in a few weeks in acting capacity.
Why?
Even when a Southerner assumes the presidency of the country, it becomes a negotiation point for the North to let their son head the multi billion naira financial parastatal.
Before former president Olusegun Obasanjo could proclaim the first Senate in the second Republic, he had announced, under the negotiated prodding of his Adamawa born vice president Atiku Abubakar, that the son of the Lamido Adamawa, Prince Aliyu Mustapha would head the organization.
Former president Umaru Yar’adua took the the headship of the organization to his home state of Katsina also in the North, and the goodwill prevalent in his successor, President Goodluck Jonathan equally kept the same man, Mr. Abdullahi Dikko in position.
It was noticed that at the inception of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, practically all the likely successors to the outgoing Comptroller General of Customs, were mainly Southerners in terms of hierarchical structure.
Suddenly a great probe supervised by a pliant media trial found them all guilty and they were shown the way out .
The whole lot of the Deputy Comptrollers General and Assistant Comptrollers General (ACGs) were swept off under one guise or the other, for the President to appoint a retired army Colonel in his 70s to head the organization.
Col. Hameed Ali who now heads it is equally a northerner.
In the list of disengaged officers found in this report, a very high number of Northerners are reported to have been included.
This is so because they form the bulk of the officers and men that man the Nigeria Customs Service, a parastatal where it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a Southerner to be recruited into the money spinning organization.
When a media report that the service had dismissed 59 officers in 2017 came out , its Acting Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, clarified in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday that dismissal in the service was in 2016.
‘The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has not dismissed any officer in 2017’.
He noted that the report quoted a circular dated January 19, 2017, purportedly signed by the Acting Comptroller, Discipline.
Attah explained that sometime in 2016, some officers were served with various disciplinary actions ranging from warning and retirement to dismissal, for different offences.
According to him, the Public Relations unit of the service had earlier issued a statement on the development which was widely reported by the print, electronic and online media.
“Obviously, the originator of this story came across an internal communication and without verification, went to press with a story that is capable of causing panic and fear, with negative consequences on the morale of the workforce.
“It is therefore unfortunate for a reporter to stumble on an internal communication of an organisation and publish it without seeking clarification.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the service has not dismissed any officer since the one duly reported in 2016. The story is false and represents a repetition of same story, delivered as new.
Attah said that the notification was for serving officers and men in keeping with the service’s pre-emptive measures to deter any affected officer who may choose to hang around to engage in illegalities.
He said that the NCS would not hesitate to discipline erring officers, adding that such action was usually painstakingly driven through all well-established disciplinary procedures.
This latest release on the issue emerged when an earlier news report had published the names and ranks of the officers who were shown the way out of the service.
It read,
Again, Nigeria Customs Sacks Senior Officers; 48 Axed This Time
In continuation of the reorganization going on in the parastatal, the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, says it has terminated the appointment of about 48 senior officers, even as it retired eleven others and terminated 3, In a circular dated January 19, 2017, signed by Ag. Comptroller in charge of Discipline, Ganiyu I.A
Those affected are three Deputy Comptroller of Customs (DC), four Assistant Comptrollers of Customs (AC), eight Chief Superintendents of Customs (CSC), three Superintendents of Customs (SPC) one Deputy Superintendent of Customs (DSC) and one Assistant Superintendent of Customs (ASC).
Those dismissed include Deputy Controller Idris A.Z, AC Mandi A.Z, Ohamobi C., CSC Sale A.S, CSC Nura Mu’Azu Usman, CSC Bello A., CSC Absullahi R., CSC Dan-Ali M., SC Imam S.U, SC Andullahi M.S, DSC Olajumoke O., CIC Sani B., CIC Saleh A., CIC Isah A. CIC Balarabe S., 1 ACIC Maigari S., ACIC Shuibu I.J, ACIC Anigwe M.E, ACIC Dugari Z.I , DCIC Madaki J.M, PIC Hamisu S.G, PIC Garba H., PIC Alfa Y. D, PIC Hamidu H., PIC Haruna K., SIC Jimoh A.S, IC Bamiloye T. A, IC Yusuf D.N, IC Sanusi S.M, IC Mohammed A.U and CCA Yakubu M.S
Those retired are: DC Mustapha M. T, AC Mbanefo P., AC Daze P. D, CSC Ekong N. A, CSC Archew A.A, CSC Suleman A.A, SC Daniru A., ACIC Owunaka T., ACIC Azodoh A.C, PIC Orukalama T. and CCA Abubakar A.
Among those whose appointments were terminated are: ASCII Olorunhundo G and CA 1 Lurwanu S. FCT.
