The controversy and uncertainty concerning the tenure and the person of Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, (NCS), Abdullahi Dikko Inde was finally laid to rest yesterday as he retired from the service after 6 years as the CG.
His letter of disengagement dated August 3 was received last week by President Muhammadu Buhari who is expected to name a successor immediately.
Inde later yesterday visited the State House, where he met behind closed doors with President Buhari. In his acceptance letter dated August 14, Buhari acknowledged Dikko’s “decision to voluntarily retire. He also expressed appreciation for his services to the country, while wishing him “the very best” in his future endeavours.
Alhaji Abdullahi said he was voluntarily leaving office, partly to avoid being fired by President Muhammadu Buhari, and also to allow the younger generation take over. “The time I’m leaving is the time I feel those young ones that have developed the software can come up and manage the software,” he told journalists Monday after meeting the president.
“So that is basically the reason and I’m sending out this signal to all those who have stayed put. “Don’t stay until you are asked you to go. When you feel you have done so much and you believe in the system you have built, then why do you stay? Why don’t you be an umpire? Leave, be by the side and watch and advise,” he said.
“Revenue appreciated by 20 percent from when I took over and the officers that did the work are still around and I think that the NCS – I stand to be corrected- is the only service that is fully automated in the system of operation,” he said, saying it is time for the younger generation who built the automated systems to take over. “We have no fear,” he added.
The Nigeria Customs Service is one of the revenue generating agencies that President Muhammadu Buhari promised to reform and audit. The exit of Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko is seen by many as a welcomed development. He has over stayed his welcome and the customs is regarded as one the most corrupt government agencies in Nigeria. Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the President’s replacement of Alhaji Abdullahi and a forensic audit of the agency.
