The Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Alli (rtd) has ordered the de-ranking of customs officers whom he described as not worthy of holding their office.
The development may be in furtherance of the Customs CG‘s vow during his maiden tour of Lagos ports when he told the officers that some of the promotions done in the past were irregular, he had pledged to review all cases of irregular promotions among officers.
Investigations by Shipping Position Daily however revealed that the CGC may have made good his promise in an exercise secretly codenamed “operation defend your rank” , as some officers of the service at various commands, especially Assistant Controllers have now been demoted.
It was learnt that some of the affected officers have been demoralized and they no longer wear their uniforms.
Shipping Position Daily also gathered from sources within the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) that freight forwarding associations have written several letters to the CG of Customs, begging to have a meeting with him. But the CG has reportedly snubbed the clearing agents and freight forwarding groups.
A source hinted that Alli does not trust the leadership of the associations especially on matters of corruption.
On the demotion of officers, it would be recalled that not less than 4,132 customs officers were promoted between January and March 2015 alone, by the former Comptroller General, Abdullahi Dikko Inde.
When contacted, the National Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service; Mr Wale Adeniyi told our correspondent that no officer has been demoted. He however acknowledged that some officers have been adorning ranks that is not theirs.
“The fact is that some officers have been putting on ranks that that are not commensurate, it is not their ranks. The anomalies are being corrected by managememt.
However,confirming “operation defend your rank” to our correspondent, Apapa Chapter Chairman of National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA); Alhaji Tanko Ibrahim said that customs has started asking officers who were not dully promoted to go back to their old ranks.
The point of the demotion exercise and questions asked are; “If you are not a graduate and you entered the service, later you now became a graduate, were you updated? Does the service know about your going to school and coming out? Your letter of appointment, and letter of promotion, if there is no evidence of the letter of promotion, you go back to your letter of appointment”, he stated
Tanko said that “a lot of officers you see wearing big ranks have been removed, some of them are very sad they are no longer wearing uniforms, some are even saying they want to throw in the trowel because somebody you were bossing have now become your boss” he said.
Meanwhile, Alli has refused letters written to him by ANLCA and NAGAFF for courtesy visits and for an official stakeholders’ meeting. After his maiden tour of the ports, the CG of Customs directed area Controllers to ensure they hold stakeholders meeting every month in order to address operational challenges.
The source told our correspondent that ”When he (Alli) came in, he has been briefed of the association antecedents, how they fought with Dikko over cases of allegation of corruption and how they eventually reconciled and he was giving them money”
“Right now I can tell you that the CGC does not trust anyone of them on issues of corruption. Meanwhile, what do you want to see the CGC in Abuja for? Powers have been given to the area controllers, he directed them to hold monthly stakeholders meeting, so what do you need to lobby him for?”
“After all, cargoes are not cleared in Abuja, and the CGC have returned power to the zones, the zones are now in charge of everything, let them meet with Zonal Coordinators” the source told our correspondent.
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