Alhaji Mustapha Aboki (Vice Chairman NAGAFF)
We wouldn't say he has performed so badly because I am aware that in the area of officers’ welfare he has done credibly well. In recent time, I have not seen any Comptroller General that has done so such compared to what Alhaji Dikko has done. Also in the area of revenue collection, he has done credibly well too. There is no way he can be 100% perfect because there are some areas he might have been faulty in the line of duty, either by error or formation but on a general note, he has done very well.
Osita Chukwu Patrick (Coordinator SNFFIEC)
He has done his best like any other Nigerian and at the same time, one will not say he has done his best without saying that if there is any corrupt tendency during his service in office he should not be called for questioning. In that case, government should be able to look at all that he has done, then add it to the lapses emanating from the service under Dikko's watch. But one major area I will fault Dikko is in the area of double standards because he never for once cared about challenges faced by freight forwarders. During his reign we had issues bothering on multiple alerts, FOU services on the highways, which simply means that they cannot discharge their duties effectively at the ports going from one point to another to check containers on the highways. He failed in the area of national security of this country and the system of auction was poorly managed by him as well. Therefore I will say on the scale of 100 he scored 40.
Joseph Atoloye (Customs Broker)
We thank God for change because Dikko was given the opportunity to lead the customs and he made an impact, but when we look at issues surrounding the job itself ,you will find out that there is lacuna in the system. He succeeded in the area of revenue collection which I believe is not the hallmark of customs policies. Apart from that, PAAR happens to be an issue to the practitioners which I will say the former CG introduced to us yet that document is not helping us to facilitate trade. Therefore PAAR is a failure and it’s a minus to Alhaji Dikko because we are not benefiting from it, it slows down clearing of goods from the ports.
Frank Ailakor (ANLCA)
We will continue to commend him in the area of welfare for officers, but in recent times there were issues bothering on customs operations which have positive and negative implications under the ex- CG tenure. One of the good thing was that he empowered the officers in so many ways, and for the operators, the CG introduction of Federal Operations Unit on the highway does not really go down well with us as regards trade facilitation, which you will agree with me is a minus as well for him. The issues of PAAR is a problem to the freight forwarders and I can say that PAAR is not working thus it’s a failure on the part of the ex – CGC. Give and take the ex-customs boss performed in some areas and also failed in some areas as well.
Anslem Njemanze (Former Chair, ANLCA Lillypond Chapter)
Dikko has come and gone, his tenure had advantages and disadvantages, the man has his good sides and his bad sides, but if you ask me I will say that his good side supersedes his bad side because he has transformed the Nigeria Customs Service, he has been able to rescue our 1% from the multinational companies, the PAAR he introduced has saved trillions of Naira for the Nigerian government, this had over the years been collected by the service providers. Dikko has really done well, nobody is a saint, he has his bad side, but if you ask me, I will say that his good side is more than his bad side, because customs are now professionalised, there are welfare packages, incentives and even training, he has performed 70%.
Emmanuel Njokwu (PRO, ANLCA at MMIA Airport)
As far as I am concerned, Inde Dikko Abdullahi introduced a new lease of life into the Nigeria Customs Service, there has been no CG in the customs like him, he did a great deal of changes in the service and I commend him a lot. Complaints might be coming from people who are bent on hiring people to do Customs job, Customs know their job, so they should be allowed to do it, the PAAR that was introduced by Customs was laudable, nobody says it is perfect but we can keep improving and fine-tuning it. By doing this we will discover areas where we can make amends, when policies are introduced and you make mistakes, these mistakes are platforms for correction.
Okechukwu Vincent (Member, NPCC)
Dikko's tenure was one of those things that happened in Nigeria, he has the best of intentions when he came in, but you know that absolute power corrupts, so he did his best and his worst, he made the customs service to lose professionalism, lawlessness came into play, there is no ethics, every officer is lawless to the extreme. Dikko bastardised the association's, he patronized ANLCA to the extreme in a war of interest against the other associations, he brought a terrible disarray into the maritime associations and it will take them a very long time to recover from those experiences.
Obums Anene (Deputy President, NAGAFF)
He has tried, even though his best was not enough, I do not want to speak for a very long time about Dikko's activities and performance, he has worked and he tried, but Dikko naturally is not a nice man, he is somebody that wants to eat alone, it is true that he cared for officers’ welfare, but to me he is not a nice person, and this is why as deputy national president of NAGAFF I have never attended any meeting he called concerning associations. I am a member of NAGAFF, but we did not get anything from him, there are people he helped to build their secretariat, but we are still watching.
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