BY Stephen Ubanna
Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel, Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Services, NCS, appears to have put fear, in the mindset of the NCS, new recruits , who are expected to commence their training programme in Customs Training Colleges in the north western state of Kano and south west state of Lagos, on Monday, January 10, 2022.
Going by the arrangement for the training programme, the junior cadre officers are requested to arrive at Customs Training College , Goron Dutse, Kano while the senior officers from the rank of Assistant Superintentendent are to report at the Customs Training College, Ikeja, Lagos, on Sunday, January 9, 2022, for training programme.
Given the experience encountered with the Customs recruits by the T Trainers in the past which the Management did not find funny may have informed why the Customs Comptroller General has made it clear to the new Customs recruits that ‘’any act of indiscipline at any stage of the Traing programme will be visited with adequate punishment ranging from outright dismissal to eviction from the Camp’’.
Joseph Attah, a Comptroller and Customs spokesperson had said that arrival at the ‘’designated centers for the Training Programme in Kano and Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve center, between January 9th, 2022 and 10th of January, 2022, is mandatory, as training Commences on Monday, January 10, 2022. According to informed sources, the Customs new recruits are expected to be in the Camp for about six months in order to learn about all the rudiments of the Customs operation from interpreting the Customs and Exercise Management Act provisions and how to go about anti-smuggling operations, in the country’s land border areas, without loss of lives.
Many of the Customs new recruits who scaled through the Customs Board selection process had seen seen it as very rewarding as building a worthy Careers in the service. The Customs Authorities may have to drum it at the mind of the new Customs recruit not to see their engagement in the revenue generating agency as an opportunity to make cheap money by Compromising on their job. There is no gain saying the fact that most of the recruits of the 2009 and 2015, had seen Customs as a honey port are not ready to learn about the technical aspect of the job from their superiors who acquired the experience over the years but are after making Cheap money and driving big cars to show that they have arrived.
