Following the ongoing reorganisation in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which saw to the resignation and retirement of Deputy Comptrollers-General, Assistant Comptrollers-General and Comptrollers from the service, panic has gripped other members of the service over the likelihood of being affected by the purge.
Sunday Tribune learnt at the weekend that there is palpable fear within the NCS over the rumour that the reorganisation exercise, which has consumed five Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs (DCGs) and 29 others, could be the beginning of a massive sack.
The staff members, especially those from the mid-level to the top echelon, it was gathered, have begun to live in fear of disengagement, noting that the ‘foreigner’ boss of the service had shown from the start that heads would roll and that everyone would just have to anticipate the worst.
Sunday Tribune reliably gathered that several other senior officers of the NCS might be axed in the ongoing reform exercise, a development that was said to have caused unease in the organisation.
But the Public Relations Officer of the Customs, Mr Wale Adeniyi, while speaking with Sunday Tribune, debunked the insinuation that more staff members might be reorganised.
According to him, “Nigerians are free to make any insinuation. Those making the insinuations are free to do so,” he said, explaining that what the Comptroller-General, Col. Hamid Ali, promised Nigerians is total reformation of the Nigerian Customs Service, including its structure, personnel and every relating to it.
An insider in the NCS who spoke on a condition of anonymity informed that the investigations earlier launched by the Comptroller-General, had begun to unravel serious misnomer in the running of the service, a development which he said led to the resignation of the top shots during the week, noting that everyone directly or indirectly involved would have a cause to fear.
Apart from this, the source stated that Ali had made it clear that one of his mandates was to reorganise the service, saying: “Whatever reorganisation and restructuring mean, we are all in the clear that the boss has that mandate from the Presidency and he calls the shot; that is why no one can say he is safe until the storm is truly over."
Other insiders who expressed happiness with the ongoing development, however, said that the service needed the ongoing reorganisation, as it has become corrupt in many ramifications including its task of generating revenues for the country and its internal policies such as promotions and postings of officers. One of them who works with the Ibadan Zonal Office stated that the reorganisation would not only be about retirements and sack, noting that some officers would be demoted or reposted, as nepotism and favouritism had been rife in the organisation prior to the coming of Ali.
“It is true that there is palpable fear in the service right now; but that is for people who have been involved in corrupt practices or have been unduly favoured through posting or promotion because they had godfathers,” the source said.
It will be recalled that the Customs boss had earlier maintained that he realised “that there are anomalies in the promotion and posting of Customs officers,” promising to review such developments and also address those who have been stagnated in the service because they had no godfather.
“We also have those who have been glued to a place where they make money via bribes and other underhand deals. We’ll also look into it. A committee is looking into these issues. It is already working out modalities to address these anomalies. Soon, you’ll hear what we are doing about them,” Ali had said in a press release.
Sunday Tribune, however, gathered that the lull that followed Ali’s appointment, which was widely criticised because he was never part of the service and was largely seen as an outsider, had given several top shots in the service false hopes that they “were safe.”
But with the recent development whereby Adeniyi, on Friday, announced the retirements of five DCGs including John Atte, who was acting Comptroller-General few months ago after the resignation and reorganisation of some top officers, many others, especially beneficiaries of illegal promotion, are apprehensive of the big hammer.
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