By Stephen Ubanna
Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel, and Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, appears to have taken a swift look of the service, disciplinary action against officers who have compromised their position in the discharge of their duties over the last seven years.
Ali, who is on his last lap as the Comptroller General of the NCS, may have taken advantage of Hajia Ahmed, minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, recent briefing on the activities of the ministry to speak out. Note that between 2015 and now, there have been rumours making the rounds that the Customs helmsman had shown a good number of officers a way out of the service for gross misconduct but he had kept it a closely guided secret.
Given that he has barely nine months to still occupy the office of the Comptroller General of the NCS, as the next , government, after the 2023, general elections may not retain may have forced him to speak out at the ministerial briefing in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
He may have shocked Nigerians when he disclosed that over 2000 officers and men of the service, who had compromise their position in the discharge of their official duties, mostly anti-smuggling officers, have been laid off. With the sack of the 2,000 officers, fear appears to have gripped other officers on border Patrols at the Interventionist Units and the sea, that Ali, undercover officers who are on ground may expose them of doing the unusual that lead to sack.
It is not surprisising why officers are very careful at the Land border areas and the seaports to avoid playing into Ali’s hand in the remaining months of his stay in office.
Aware of the bad image which the sacked officers have given the service, may have informed why the Customs helmsman has warned Nigerians ‘’to be wary of being scammed by such officers”, noting that ‘‘the fight against smuggling has assumed a stiffer and more sophisticated dimension ‘’ in different parts of the country. This is evident going by what the Federal Operations Unit, FOUs, Headquarters Strike Force and Border Drills personnel are doing across the country are doing , including what the newly established Headquarters Rapid Response Squad , HRRS, which has Jack Okpabi, an Assistant Comptroller and his officers are doing in the north western, north eastern and nor central geopolitical regions to cage the smugglers.
The Customs boss had said, as reported by Channels Television, that the Customs under his Leadership could achieve that much in its anti-smuggling operations, because it has procured drones which was said to have been handed over to the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, under the close watch of Air Marshall Olayinka Adebayo Amao to manage and operate to effectively intercept smuggled goods across the borders. There are reports that the service procured 65 drones which were handed over tothe NAF. The Customs had said that the service is procuring additional drones, noting that it is doing this in Collaboration with NAF.
Only recently, it was widely reported in both online mediums and tabloid, that the service had handed over 86, additional drones to the NAF,towards enhancing its operations at the nation’s land borders. This is because of the Cooperation and synergy among the various security agencies operating in the country.
As a prelude to handing the Customs owned drones to the NAF, to manage and operate, the two agencies were said to have agreed last February ‘’to synergize their effort towards strengthening border security and stemming the tide of smuggling activities around Nigerian borders and entry points’’.
The two Organisations were said to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, that set out the terms of the joint commitment, which is expected ‘’to enhance efficiency and land border operations ‘’to curtail activities of smuggling syndicates across the country.
Edward Gabkwet, a Commodore and NAF, Director of Public Relations and Information had said that going by the terms of the MOU, NAF, is expected’’ to make available two of its Pilots to assist with the operations of NCS Bell 427 helicopters’’ and by so doing compliment the efforts of NCS, air wing.
Ali, the Customs Comptroller General, may have given an insight why the various Customs warehouses, across the country are always filled to the brim with intercepted Foreign par boiled rice, which are regular seizures of the anti-smuggling officers along the road or, inappropriate routes and in the bushes.
He had said that the intercepted prohibited imported Foreign rice, which are maritime analysts believe are imported through the neighbouring west African country of Benin Republic, Autonomous Port, Contou, and the ports of Lome, Togo; Tema, Ghana and Abidjan, Coted’Ivoire, ‘’are preserved with chemical and has short life span’’, and thus not good for human consumption.
In spite of the fact, that the Customs boss, had declared the intercepted Foreign parboiled rice as unfit for human consumption, he had disclosed at the ministerial press briefing, that ‘’the seized Foreign parboiled rice are distributed to the Internally Displaced People, IDP, Camps and the needy’’, particular, those affected by crisis.
He was said to have also opened on the Customs 2022, revenue target of N3.019 trillion. He may have gladdened the heart of the officers and men of the service, when he disclosed that so far, ‘’the service has generated N2.143 trillion as against the projected N3.019 trillion’’.
Many believe that the service could generate that much because it has commenced the collection of duty on carbonated drinks.Analysts, are optimistic that the Customs monthly revenue would jump the roof top in the coming months ‘’once it commence the collections of telecommunication tax’’.
Recall that the Katsina state born Nigeria President had approved for implementation of the 2022, Fiscal Policy measures made up of the ‘’Supplementary Protection Measures, SPM, of the Economic Community of West African States, Common Extenal Tariff, CET, , 2022-2026, and collection of excise duties on Non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages, Cigarettes and Tobacco, products, as well as Telecommunication services’’.
Ministry sources had said that the Presidential of the SPM, ‘’is in line with the provision of the ECOWAS CET, which comprises of Import Adjustment Tax, IAT, list with additional taxes and levy , on 172 tariff lines of the extant ECOWAS CET. It was not surprising why the service has started collecting excise on Carbonated drinks, awaiting to extend it to telecommunication services which will further shore up its monthly revenue collections in the remaining months of 2022 and the next four years.
