NIGERIA CUSTOM SERVICES RETIRES 29 SENIOR OFFICERS.

The Nigeria Customs Service has said that a total of 29 senior officers have been retired from the service with immediate effect.

The voluntary retirement of the five DCGs who make up the management team of the Customs was earlier reported.

This brings the total number of retired officers to 35.

A statement from the spokesperson of the service, Mr. Wale Adeniyi, said the retirement was part of an on-going reorganisation within the service, which he described as one of the core mandates of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd).

It read, “Those affected in the exercise are five Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs who have earlier given notification to the Comptroller-General of voluntary disengagement. They are John Atte, Ibrahim Mera, Musa Tahir, Austin Nwosu and Akinade Adewuyi.

“Three others, of the rank of Assistant Comptroller-General are also affected in the reorganisation exercise. They are Secretary to the Nigeria Customs Board, Madu Mohammed; Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘A’, Victor Gbemudu; and Assistant Comptroller-General, (Headquarters), Bello Liman. The rest are of the rank of comptrollers serving in Customs headquarters, zonal offices and various area commands.”

The CG said the retirements were part of measures to herald the repositioning of the service for improved performance.

This development came two weeks after Ali ended his familiarisation tour of customs commands in Lagos.

During the tour, the CG in his meeting with various stakeholders, warned officers to shun corrupt practices or face the consequences when caught.

While extending a hand of cooperation to all stakeholders, he stressed that he would not hesitate to enforce extant laws, rules and regulations, as stated in the Customs and Excise Management Act.

Ali said, “Any Customs officer that asks you for money before carrying out his/her duties should be reported to me; that era is gone. But you must also come up with real issues backed up with facts. We won’t entertain frivolous complaints.

“In law, the person giving the bribe and the person taking bribe are liable. That means agents must ensure they work within the laid down rules and regulations. If everyone does what is expected of him/her, then we won’t have problems.”

Ali, since the assumption of duty last month, has consistently maintained that the reform and restructuring of the customs are his key mandates.

The President, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, Mr. Lucky Amiwero, said there was no reason to suspect any internal crisis in the customs contrary to some media reports.

He said, “We shouldn’t read meanings into it; I don’t think this is the first time something of this nature is happening with the customs. It is similar to what happened in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation when leadership changed hands.

“The government has its focus. Besides, it must be emphasised that the previous leadership of the customs didn’t do well; the whole system is messed up. Someone cannot come from the outside to take over the customs if things had been done properly. So for the government to have taken that option, obviously something is wrong.