Chief Achike Molokwu [Stakeholder]
Chief Achike Molokwu [Stakeholder]
The man is doing really fine and I think that if I want to score him, I will give him 70% .I score him as such for his ability to get revenue for the Federal Government and secondly for his ability to take care of his staff which I think under his regime the welfare of staff has been properly addressed. During his three years in office, he has been able to promote his officers twice which is a very good record for him and had been able to complete a lot projects kept aside by his predecessors. I heard he has compelled his officers in the Nigeria Customs Service to sign an undertaken in the area of corruption.
Emeka Chukwumalu [Save Nigeria Coalition]
So far so good, he has tried as the head likewise other past Comptrollers General of the Nigeria Customs Service. He has been able to do his best, but there is still room for improvement because there are some grey areas he needs to look into and that is in the area of the federal operation units tracking down containers that might have left the port to their destination which is a directive that he had given earlier to his men under the FOU. So I don’t understand if he is not aware of the fact that such things still exist in the industry. Therefore my own assessment of the Customs Comptroller General is that he has improved the service in the area of performance and revenue generation, but if he brings in any impediment into the system, it then means he has not addressed the burning issues at hand. He has performed and he should relax, allow his tenure to end and give room for someone else to come onboard to continue from where he stops.
Mr. Frank Aliakor [ANLCA Chieftain]
The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service has performed above average in the sense that he has brought transformation to customs since he assumed office as the leader. I am not a customs officer, but if there is the need to say what the CG has done for the system, I will say that he has performed because when we talk about welfare of officers in customs you will agree with me that he did very well in that regard and also in the area of training personnel he did very well as well. Even in the area of corruption the CG has also put in place some measures to cushion the effect of fraud in the system. However corruption is endemic and it has eaten deep in the fabric of the Nigeria economy which is not applicable to customs alone, it is all encompassing though their own is very glaring because money exchanges hands, that is reason why it is alarming but with all sincerity the CG is doing well and has done well for Nigeria , the maritime industry and his officers.
Mr. Dayo Abdulazeez (ANLCA Chieftain)
The customs have performed beyond expectations because of the radical reforms that the Comptroller General and his management team introduced, it was during his time that the old long room was rehabilitated, now, when you pay your custom duty you just proceed to the terminal to do your examination, the reforms have actually reduced the number of days that cargoes are being cleared from the port, it is an excellent performance from the present management of the custom service, but we as Oliver Twist, we still want more.
The areas we want the management to improve upon is on the unblocking of cargoes before clearance, presently cargoes are being blocked in the system even before you pay your custom duty, so we are appealing to the management that they should unblock all cargoes, it is after payment of duties and examination is performed that you can determine discrepancies in cargoes, you cannot say a cargo is discrepant without inspection or payment of duties.
Alhaji Akanni Balogun (ANLCA, TinCan)
The CG has tried, he has put structures in place for the custom officers, they are getting their promotions as at when due, the incentives are there so, I see no reasons why any officer should not perform, and because of the trade facilitation that the government is putting in place through his leadership, Nigeria customs has performed to expectation, though a few things still have to be put in place. We still have too many tables in some places, in the releasing process you still have to go through some unnecessary documentation, for example the Single Goods Declaration (SGD) form has been cancelled because through it there were lot of corruption, some officers will want to endorse it and collect money from you, this is very wrong but thanks to God that the SGD has been eliminated and this has made clearing of goods very smooth now and so there are no bottlenecks anymore from the customs.
Emeka Enwelu (Freight Forwarder)
Abdullahi Dikko is a failure, his laws are not right to us as maritime experts, most of the things he is doing today are wrong, most especially the benchmark issue, we just fought and thought they have called it off, but they are still on it; they are still holding people to ransom at the port and subjecting them to pay large sum of money based on benchmark, his leadership is faulty because he is not doing what we expected of him as the Comptroller General of Customs, we expect him to always be there for agents and their consignees, making them to feel at home when clearing their jobs, by not putting fear in them in his quest to meet the terms he has with the President on the N1trillion target. He promised to make that money at the detriment of the agents and their consignees. In regards to the promotion of officers, he only did that to win the hearts of these officers because most of them are against the benchmark issue and for him not to be pushed aside by his own men; he had to bring them closer by giving them promotions.
Alloy Uchegbu (Freight Forwarder)
In terms of revenue, I think customs has done really well under Dikko, they have been trying their best in the area of collecting revenue for government as well as in the area of promotion of officers, and I am elated that after so many years there have been new intakes in customs. In the past two years, there have been lots of transformation and we are going through a process whereby you don’t need hard copies of papers, what you only need to do is to make your declarations to customs through the internet, while you go there to sort it out afterwards and for them to ascertain that you have made the right declarations, what it means is that they have designed it to be that there would only be fewer people in the port. Generally, I think the man has done really well.
Ugochukwu Nnadi (Deputy National President, NAGAFF)
Right from former Comptroller General, Customs has been dynamic and improving with time, but it is climaxing now in this period of Inde Dikko because customs are no longer as punitive as they used to be. I remember in those days, once there is any slightest mistake whether it is deliberate or not, your license would be clamped on and it would take months or even years to reactivate it, but today, with Dikko in office, it is no longer like that. Secondly, in those days with any slightest mistake the agent is been thrown into customs cell, but today it is no longer like that, democracy is coming into customs and now they must have to prove their case before they think of detaining you and not only that, we can see that customs officers are better taken care of now, more so in the area of promotions that are taking place in customs.
Basil Nwolisa (Secretary, PTML ANLCA)
The Nigerian Customs Service was at the edge of collapse before Dikko came in; it is not easy to carry out the urgent task of repositioning of customs because approximately 40 percent of those people in Abuja are having accommodation in Abuja. In the same vein, a lot of revenue leakages have been blocked by the Comptroller, you can give it to him. To clear an urgent task is not easy, but he has started well and I believe he will do better if given another opportunity. I am an ardent supporter of the increment in staff remuneration especially in the police and customs because I believe that if they are given more money, enough welfare, they will not look the other way, smugglers may be having a field-day through that. The promotion of the officers will also encourage the workforce to be more serious, the government should look for a way to further increase the remuneration of customs so that they can be fearless in their decision- making and their decision taking towards revenue leakages.
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