There are indications that the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) is tinkering with a complete overhaul of the management structure of the service.
Sources have confirmed to Shipping Position Daily that the restructuring will see the Nigeria Customs Service scrapping its age-long Area Commands structure for State Commands.
A reliable source within the service disclosed that most of the not-so-effective commands like the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) Command, the Tin Can 2 Command at Lillypond Terminal and others across the state would be scrapped.
According to the source, these moves were to better position the service for increase revenue and enhanced productivity.
However when Shipping Position Daily contacted him, National Public Relations Officer of Customs, Deputy Controller Joseph Attah could not confirm the development. He stated that “I am not aware of this move and I think it is speculative, the issue has never been on the table”.
But the source told our correspondent that the creation of state commands for customs is to align it with other paramilitary outfits like the Civil Defence, Nigerian Police, and the Nigerian Immigration Service. He said that each state would be headed by a Controller while the terminals would now be headed by a deputy controller and accountable to the State Controller.
Giving further insight, he disclosed that: “The FOU, Enforcement unit would still be in operation, the Zones would also be in operation just like we have it in the Army, Police and others. The essence of the zones is to help administrative organisation, the CGC would not need to start calling the Controllers, he speaks with the ACG at the zone and he speaks with the Controllers, this is why the zones are still there and play a vital role, it’s an administrative point, the FOU still works with the zone”.
He added that: “Lagos Command, Ogun Command would be established, just like we have it in the Police. This was how it was before. But the fear is that the Controller Lagos would have more powers than other states, you would also realize that to whom much is given, much is expected. The state Controllers would now have Deputy Controllers heading each ports and terminals”
“Just like it is done in every other paramilitary outfit, immigration has their Lagos command, Civil Defence, Police; they all have their command in each state. And when they want to recruit, it is going to be per command. The only thing we do in customs that these other agencies don’t do is that we collect revenue”, he told our correspondent.
“This move would further motivate the Controllers in their revenue collection, because no controller wants to be controller of desk, all of them would work hard to make sure that the stakeholders bend to the book they need to bend and make payment”, he said.
According to findings by Shipping Position Daily, The Federal Government had in 1975 established the Department of Customs and Excise with appointment of Alhaji Shehu A. Musa as first Director. However in 1988, the functions of the Department were decentralized through Zonal commands to facilitate decision making process. Zonal Coordinators were in charge of the Zones while those in charge of states were known as Area Controllers.
The Customs currently has only four zones, under which there were a total of only 25 Area Commands. Some of the commands were recently created after the port concessioning exercise of 2006.
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