Since the exit of Brigadier General Samuel Ango as the Sole Administrator in 1999, the Nigeria Customs Service has always had succession-related rancour. The emergence of Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Mustapha in 1999 shortly before the return to democracy was divine, having been posted to Bauchi(away from reckoning at the headquarters). He emerged from there to clinch the position. The result was that many brilliant but ambitious senior officers had to be retired to pave way for a peaceful reign for Mustapha. The ‘wounded’ officers didn’t allow him be as he was fought all through his four year tenure.
Similarly, the emergence of Buba Gyang as Mustapha’s successor was no less rancourous. His name never came up in build up to the appointment. He was a compromise, of sort between the ‘hawks’ who had been penciled down and the ‘apostles of due process’. The hawks were the Mustapha boys, while the other group comprised of those who, ordinarily should rank high on the rating list by virtue of rank and experience, but who were not Mustapha’s confidants.
After Buba, there was Mr David Ogungbemile who acted as the CG Of Customs to pave way for Dr Bernard Shaw Nwadialor who spent the greater part of the opportunity as the Customs boss to celebrate his record as the first Igbo man CG of Customs.
Buba has come and gone, but the emergence of Hamman as the new CG might have witnessed the bitterest fight as senior officers from the rank of Comptrollers engage one another in a game of survival and succession.
When out of the blues, Hamman Bello was appointed as the substantive Customs boss, very few people doubted the fact that it was an interregnum.
And so when the then-President, Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’ Adua appointed Diko Abdulahi Inde in 2009, there was apprehension about the future of the Service.
Sceptics (understandably) didn’t see a Diko as being capable of turning the service from an object of ridicule and plummeting to an envious public institution that it has turned out to be.
Prior to his appointment, the Nigeria Customs Service got plummeted on all fronts, while it’s personnel are blamed for all shortcomings in the process of cargo clearance, be it at the ports or at other entry points.
Instructively, upon assumption of duty, Dikko unfolded his seven-point agenda, which according to him, is all that the Customs require regaining its lost glory and repositioning it to effectively discharge its responsibilities and permeate best practices comparable to what is obtainable in other countries of the world.
In an encounter with this newspaper, the Customs CG had admitted that: “I inherited low-morale officers – very disorderly and with ‘zero’ attitude to work. It was like one found himself in a classroom of people who didn’t understand A or B and you have to teach them afresh how to do things correctly”.
He said his take-off was to immediately request from the Customs Board, a department of human resources for workforce overhaul. In addition, he said, he sought the help of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and other customs administration, like India, Canada and France to come to Nigeria’s aid, adding that they all gave positive responses.
“We also looked into the issue of motivation in terms of salaries and allowances, and their salaries were increased by 100 per cent to motivate them to do their jobs well,” he had told us.
While not holding brief for Alhaji Diko Abdulahi Inde and the Nigeria Customs Service, it is safe to affirm that the Customs of 2012 is far better (in all ramifications) than that of 2009 when the incumbent management was constituted.
True to his words in 2009, the contact between the customs officers and the importers have been significantly reduced, hence reduction in corruption. At the present, the cargo clearance procedure is getting to the level where it will be possible for a clearing agent to make his or her declaration through the internet, make payments and get the consignment released without seeing the customs officer.
There is no over emphasising the fact that technological advancement in the service such as e-payment, e-remittance and e-declaration of goods has further helped in achieving increased revenue collection and curbed the usual customs officer- clearing agents fraternity and contact.
One of the positive things that the current management of the service is being commended form is the staff welfare, salaries and allowances. Promotion in the Customs has never been as regular as it has been in the last couple of years.
Added to the above is the provision of work tools for the service’s personnel, both in the offices, border and ports (both air and sea)
Hundreds of Hilux patrol jeeps equipped with communication gadgets and thousands of AK47 rifles for anti-smuggling patrol and border security unit were procured, this is in addition to sophisticated patrol boats and helicopter for air patrol.
Sadly however is the fact that buried under the systemic transformation that the Nigeria Customs Service is undergoing are a bunch of officers who still belief that it is business as usual.
The frequent allegation of corruption and collusion by clearing agents against customs officers is a confirmation that a lot still needed to be done.
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