The first thing he did upon his appointment on August 27, 2015, the Comptroller General of Customs; Col Hameed Alli (rtd) was to inform officers that, his mandate was to undertake reforms and re-structure the service. In doing this, he assured that capacity of the Nigeria Customs Service would be enhanced to generate more revenue. He went ahead to charge the Customs management that he inherited to work with him to deliver on the mandate given by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The mandate he (President Buhari) has given me are three basic things: go to Customs, reform Customs, restructure Customs and increase the revenue generation, simple. I don’t think that is ambiguous, I don’t think that is cumbersome. It is precise and I believe that is what all of you are here to do”, he told the senior officers.
And apparently conscious of the circumstances surrounding his appointment, he pointedly told the services management not to see him as a stranger to the Nigeria Customs Service. He nevertheless solicited the support and loyalty of all officers and men to make Nigeria Customs Service great.
Instructively, one of the most vocal points of his meetings was the vow to rid the Service of corruption. His first statement was that: “all Customs area controllers, heads of Units and Departments shall now send a weekly report on all proven cases of false declarations, deliberate misapplication of tariff, undervaluation, concealment and seizures with full compliments of action taken to the office of the Comptroller-General and all Customs Area Controllers, heads of units and departments will be accountable for infractions in their areas of operations.”
At another forum with officers, he declared: “Considering my military background, I believe punishment must be punitive for others to see it as a deterrent, therefore, as an officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, if you are caught involved in corruption, I am not only going to dismiss you, I will make sure I prosecute and jail you!”.
At a visit to Sokoto/Zamfara/Kebbi Area Command of the Customs in November 2015, he obviously would have scared the officers, when he said: “The minimum jail term for corrupt officers is five years, but I will make sure that any officer found to be corrupt gets the maximum jail term of 10 years. This is to serve as a deterrent to any officer who finds himself in the Customs to make money and not to earn money.”
Not long after, he ordered that, all officers must declare their assets. All these happened shortly after he took over. Since taking charge, he has had to also do away with the management that he inherited, bringing on board new set of officers, whom he (apparently) expects to be loyal to him and of course, loyal to the Service.
If the task given to Col Alli was to reform the service, raise revenue, and improve the welfare of personnel, to what extent has he achieved these since August 2015?
The Service collected N904.07billion in 2015, N898.67billion in 2016 and in the first three months of 2017, it collectedN239.4 billion. Its target in 2015 was N944.4bn, while that of 2016 was N973.3bn.
In the two years mentioned above, the Customs CG explained that a combination of factors led to the revenue shortfall.
He explained that the service faced numerous challenges during the year, one of which is the implementation of the national auto policy and CBN’s policy on foreign exchange, which barred importers of 41 selected items from accessing the official foreign exchange window. CBN’s policy forced some Nigerian importers out of shipping, as they found it difficult to source foreign exchange for their imports. This led to smuggling and cargo diversion to neighbouring ports in 2016.
Surprisingly, while he gave excuses for 2015 and 2016 revenue shortfalls, he commended the first quarter performances of the service. Ali explained that the January to March collection of N239.4 billion was achieved “through a reform programme aimed at restructuring the agency, re-orientation of its officers, removing defects and adopting simplified procedures in its activities”.
Even though he threatened to jail corrupt officers, the highest he has done since, was to sack some officers, none of whom was out rightly accused of being corrupt.
Perhaps Ali’s greatest achievement is the recent seizures of arms that had already being cleared out of the port. It may also be his biggest demonstration of failure.
Stakeholders and even insiders in the service have variously admitted that many of such lethal imports might have ferreted out of the ports. What were seized or intercepted may just be
A lot of stakeholders say it openly that, irrespective of what he had said about wiping it out, corruption has not abated in the Nigeria Customs Service.
Recently, the National President of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) came out to affirm that corruption has increased within the rank and file of the service. He also blamed the present state of affairs on the negative disposition of the Customs boss to stakeholders.
If under his watch, the service has never met its target, if under his watch corruption has skyrocketed and if under his watch, officers no longer have equipment to work with, then what has he achieved?
In all honesty, nothing much has changed since Colonel Alli became the Comptroller General of Customs. His initial threats notwithstanding, corruption still thrives in the service. If in doubt, ask the licensed customs agents who still face issues that were prevalent during the tenure of Alli’s predecessor; Alhaji Dikko Abdulahi Inde.
In the area of welfare, nothing has changed in the take-home pay or in the life of the average officer. In the area of trade facilitation, nothing has been added to what Alli inherited. Even the much-promised scanners are not available; it’s been hell for importers and their clearing agents.
For the average Customs officer, it’s business as usual. They now understand that their CG lacks sufficient knowledge to checkmate his officers. He has limited knowledge of what Customs entails. We haven’t also heard him say anything about the scanners that have packed up, or doesn’t he know that they are vital instruments for trade facilitation?
As much as one may commend him for instilling some ‘fear’ into the heart of the average customs officer, majority are yet to change, corruption still permeates the service.
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