Another round of anxiety is building up among senior officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, following news of imminent retirement of most of the serving Deputy Comptrollers General of Customs (DCGs) and Assistant Comptrollers General (ACGs).
The present DCGs and some of the ACGs were appointed following the appointment of Col Hameed Ali (rtd) as the Services Comptroller General.
Presently, there are six DCGs in the Nigeria Customs Service. They are: Suleiman Ibrahim Idris( Finance Administration and Technical service (FATS), Ugo Daniel Ayegba (Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection, Ukaigwe, Paul Chigozie (Strategic Research and Policy), Umar Iya Abubakar DCG Tariff and Trade, Warikoru Austen Ayapayefa ( Human Resource Development) and Grace Olabanke Adeyemo Excise, FTZ and Ind. Incentives
Sources confirmed to our correspondent last week that, only one of the DCGs is not on the line for retirement soon.
In fact, two of them are already filling their papers and getting set to leave between now and next month.
Similarly, many of the Service’s ACGs are also in line for retirement this year, and this has heightened expectations over who is likely to fill the vacancies that are to exist.
Usually, vacancies into DCGs and ACGs ranks are filled according to the six geopolitical arrangements in the country.
Confirming the imminent shakeup, the acting Public Relations Officer of Customs; Mr Joseph Attah told Shipping Position Daily that some DCGs and ACGs are due to retire soon, but stated that such are normal in public service , and that vacancies would need to be filled once officers retire.
“Some are due for retirement; some are even counting days to proceed on their terminal leave, having clocked the statutory 35 years in service. He confirmed that at least three DCGs are due for retirement this year”
“Actually, many of our management staff have reached the statutory year to retire, we have DCGs and we have ACGs that are already counting”.
He however refused to give specific names. But our investigations have revealed that, out of the six DCGs, only DCG Tariff and Trade; Umar Iya Abubakar still has a few years left, while others are already on their way out.
It is expected that, some ACGs will be promoted to DCG, while some Comptrollers are already warming up to move up as ACGs.
Our source said the geopolitical arrangement will still determine who moves up to either DCG or ACG.
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