Upon his appointment on August 27, 2015, and his subsequent resumption of duty, the incumbent Comptroller General of Customs; Col Hameed Alli (rtd) told the 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. He told them that: “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.
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 last year, 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 about eight month into his tenure.
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 expects to be loyal to him and of course, loyal to the Service.
And apparently thinking that the tough-looking, rarely-smiling Customs boss was just playing to the gallery, the officers went about doing things as of old.
And when the CG of Customs decided to act the talk, more than 40 officers were given the boot.
Their offences range from improper examination and release of containers without proper documentation and payment of duties, to illegal release of goods in advance before the arrival of vessels, collection of bribe to release prohibited items, release of export prohibitions. They were also accused of fraudulent sale of seized items, use of fake certificates and bribery to secure auctioned goods. Others were axed for drug abuse, certificate forgery, bribery and absence from duty.
So much said about the sack of the officers, if the task given to Col Alli was to reform the service, raise revenue, and improve the welfare of personnel, he may have scored low marks.
Except for the sack; in all honesty, nothing much has changed since Colonel Alli became the Comptroller General of Customs. The 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.
Apart from the unending corruption, also in the area of welfare, nothing new has changed in the Customs. The officers’ take-home pay has not changed. In the area of trade facilitation, nothing has been added to what Alli inherited.
Even the much-promised scanners are not available. Since the ones at Apapa and Tin Can packed up, it’s been hell for importers and their clearing agents.
Granted that these negative acts had been prevalent in the Service for years, why is it that officers are being made to pay now? Did previous Customs heads not know that customs officers are very corrupt or didn’t they know that the Service has no reputation when it comes to corruption perception among Nigerians?
Who does not know that a large chunk of revenue that should accrue to the Government goes into the pockets of corrupt Customs officers?
For the unfortunate officers who have been sacked, they now understand that their CG can’t only bark, but has well- sharpened set of teeth with which he could bite. For those still in service, they should count themselves lucky and know that they are among the few Nigerians who are lucky to be engaged.
While commending the Customs CG for at least doing the needful, we advise that it should be a continuous exercise that will (hopefully) cure the cancerous penchant for graft in the Service.
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