A huge shake-up is looming at the Nigeria Customs Service with a large number of staff expected to be sacked or demoted.
Speaking at the Customs Training School in Ikeja, Lagos, Customs boss Hameed Ali said he had been informed about irregular promotion, posting and recruitment in the service over the years. “In every conversation and meeting with my men, I have told them that I realized that there are so many anomalies as regard to their posting, promotion and recruitment. “We will set up a committee to review the whole thing. Where people have not been promoted out of no fault of theirs we will address it and where people have been promoted based on godfatherism we will review it.”
He also warned officers who had refused to go on training because they were sitting on lucrative desks stressing that such an era in the service has gone. “Where people have refused to go to courses because they think they are sitting on a desk where they make some ‘egunje’ we know what to do. There are so many internal things that I don’t need to come out and start reeling them because we have taken note of all this and I and my senior management have resolved to look at this and we will ensure that there is equity and justice in the service.”
On the issues of corruption and waiver, this is what the customs boss said, “Most customs men and officers are not corrupt but what happened is that because our activities relate to the member of the public, and if there is one bad egg the news goes around so far and the impression today in Nigeria is that we are all corrupt because of the activities of some few bad eggs and I have said that we must do some house cleansing and get rid of those bad eggs in other to strengthen the customs. “There is no organisation in the country that will beat its chest and say no corrupt element in it so. I cannot also say there are no corrupt elements in customs and I want to say this and say it with all sense of responsibility that in customs, there are few corrupt elements.
“Waivers are beyond us but the good thing is that the current president has put a stop to it. “There is no going to be waivers except those one that the law allowed for and that is the diplomatic and not that they are written UN. “We will subject them to scrutiny and know that they are genuinely diplomatic cargo. “There are consignment for diplomat that are evacuating their thing to their way back home after serving outside and those waivers are statutory and we will continue to have it but things like someone bringing machine or rice then exploit his relationship with government and get those approved are over.
“He has said no waivers and when anyone comes with a paper, I should ask who gave him so there is no waiver and we will maximize that because we want money and we can raise the revenue profile.”
