CGC HAMEED ALI LAST LAP- 1,490 CUSTOM OFFICERS REWARDED THROUGH HARDWORK AND DEDICATION TO DUTY

When President Muhammadu Buhari, appointed Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel and his close political ally, as the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, on August 2015, with a mandate ‘’to go and reform the Institution, restructure, and increase the service revenue generation’’ he may not have seen it as cumbersome but an assignment that could be fulfilled with all hands on deck.

Ali, the Customs Comptroller General, who may have inherited a service where promotion of officers and men had been stagnated for years which was not good enough may have gone back to the drawing board to change all that to achieve his Presidential mandate. He may have notice that stagnated promotion in the service based on information pieced together before taking up the appointment was already telling on the performance of the Customs personnel on their job. This is because their Contemporaries in other security agencies are enjoying their regular promotions.

The Customs Comptroller General may have sent a message to the officers and men of the service in 2017, the era of not getting their promotion as at when due was over. He had promotion of 3,487 senior officers to various ranks in tandem with Presidential approval, describing it as a call’’ to higher duty’’.

Perhaps, to ensure that the officers and men of the service enjoy their regular promotions, as at when due he was said to have directed ‘’the immediate alignment of the rank structure of the service with that of the Usman Alikali Baba led Nigerian Police Force, NPF. The directive was said to have been carried out with delay. It was not surprising why promotion of officers and men of the service have been regularised.

Many believe that without regularizing the promotion of the officers and men of the service, hundreds of senior Customs personnel who had retired and are due to retire between now and next year would not have attained such ranks.

Unlike in the past where promotion in the service was based on the highest bidder, Ali appears to have stopped all that. It is now strictly based on ‘merit, using the cumulative scores from the examination conducted, oral interviews and seniority to judge the officers .It was not surprising why some officers who have taken the promotion examination several times to the various ranks without passing, eventually made it after two or three attempts.

As a New Year present to the Customs personnel, the Customs Board at its recent meeting Chaired by Hajia Zainab Ahmed, minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, was said to have approved the promotion of 1,490, senior officers to various ranks. The promotion was said to have been backdated to January 1st, 2023. Insiders told The Forward News that the Customs Comptroller General and his Management Tea, who had already seen the promotion list who had promoted elevated some of the Deputy Comptrollers, occupying strategic positions, who had passed to Acting Comptroller, awaiting Confirmation of the Board.

This is evident going by the elevation of Deputy Comptrollers Omale, who is currently working in the Comptroller General’s office, Ahmadu Shuaibu, Area Controller, Ogun II, and tens of others were elevated as Acting Comptrollers.

Given a breakdown of the list of the promoted senior officers, in a Statement signed by Superintendent Abdullahi Maiwada, on behalf of ComptrollerT imi Bomodi,, the National Public Relations officer, who was said to have benefited from the 2022, promotion exercise, shows that 64 Deputy Comptrollers were moved to the enviable rank of Comptroller based on their performance in the examination, and oral interview laced with their seniority in the service.

There are instances of some of the Deputy Comptrollers who were said to have merited the promotion exercise in the past but were dropped at the last minute to pave way for the more senior officers. The officers were said to have passed it this time around with little or no effort.

One officer whose promotion to the rank of Comptroller has been celebrated in several quarters was Deputy Comptroller Mahmood Ibrahim, who was a one-time officer in-charge of Port Harcourt, Area II, Command , exit gate at Onne seaport.

With the support of Comp. Auwal Mohammed, the Command Area Controller, he was said to made things very difficult for the fraudulent importers with their agents as they could not fly Containers out of the port but forced to do the right: pay appropriate duty.

Those who were said to have tried it would never forget their experience in a hurry. The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, NNLCA, Onne Chapter, under the close watch of Mike Ebeatu, who were feeling the heat were said to have withdrawn their service from the port to protest for the removal and redeployment of the then Deputy Comptroller Ibrahim from the Onne exit gate.

Indeed, his redeployment last year may have paved the way for the fraudulent importers with their agents to return to the port to do what they know best: fly Containers with impunity, thus giving officials of the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone C and Headquarters Strike Force, Zone C, much job to do on the road .

Superintendent Maiwada had reported also in the Customs Official Statement that 128 Assistant Comptrollers were elevated to the rank of Deputy Comptroller of Customs while 89 Chief Superintends of Customs, CSC, got the Assistant Comptroller ranks.

Some of the officers recruited in 2009 , who had gone through the promotion process but were given double promotion last year which saw them wearing the CSC, BUT had sat for the promotion examination with their other senior Colleagues were said to have been promoted to the rank of Assistant Comptrollers because of their exceptional performance.

Maiwada Statement further shows that 220, officers of the rank of Superintendent were promoted to the rank of CSC, while 107 Deputy Superintendents, were promoted to Superintendents and 302, Assistant Superintendents of Customs I, were elevated to the rank of Deputy Super Superintendent of Customs .

The Customs Board were said to have also put smiles on 223 Assistant Superintendent of Customs II and 357 Inspectors of Customs who were said to have been moved to Assistant Superintendents of Customs I and Assistant Superintendent of Customs 11 respectively.

Recall that the Customs Management had earlier approved the promotion of 1,252 mem, within the rank and file of the service. Note that the meeting where the decision to approve the promotion of the rank and file officers last year was chaired by Ali, the Customs Comptroller General. Vintage Ali.

The Customs helmsman, who could not hide his feelings, was said to have charged the newly promoted officers ‘’to double their efforts in ensuring that the service achieves its set out goals.

Aware that some of the Management Staff, are due for retirement between now and June 2023, may have informed why the Board has approved the appointment of three new Assistant Comptroller Generals of Customs, ACGs to fill the vacuum. They are Femi Okun, who was a former Area Controller at Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML, Grg Itotoh and Shuaibu Ibrahim.

Informed sources told The Forward News that ever since the Customs Board released the list of the promoted officers, there have been jubilation in the various Customs Area Commands, Zonal, and the Customs Headquarters, including the Customs Training schools in Kano, Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve centre and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

Given that there is no short cut any longer for promotion in the service may have informed why those who are due for the Promotion this year to have prepared their mind for it.