Newly appointed Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), retired Col. Hameed Ali formally resumes duties yesterday at the Customs Headquarters in Wuse Zone 3, Abuja.
His resumption came two weeks after he was appointed to the post by President Muhammadu Buhari.
It will be recalled that Ali had on Thursday, 3rd September, 2015 visited the Customs Headquarters for a brief meeting with top management staff of the Service.
Ali’s resumption is expected to be followed by major restructuring of the NCS and possible sack of officers found wanton in the discharge of their duties.
Presidential Spokesman, Garba Shehu stated over the weekend that Ali was appointed with the specific mandate of fighting corruption and tripling the revenue collection of the Nigeria Customs Service.
Ali, according to a statement by Customs Public Relations Officer, Wale Adeniyi, restated his mandate to undertake reforms and re-structuring to enhance the capacity of Nigeria Customs Service to generate more revenue.
“The mandate he (President Buhari) has given me are three basic things: go to Customs, reform Customs, restructure Customs and increase the revenue generation, simple. I don’t think that is ambiguous, I don’t think that is cumbersome. It is precise and I believe that is what all of you are here to do,” Adeniyi quoted Ali as telling senior Customs officers during his meeting with them.
According to him, Ali also pleaded with the Management not to see him as a stranger in the customs family, noting that his mission in Customs is to help build and strengthen the Service.
Ali, according to Adeniyi, also solicited the support and loyalty of all officers and men in his collective approach to make Nigeria Customs a better service.
The NCS spokesman noted in the statement that earlier, the Deputy Comptroller General covering duties for CGC, John Atte, had while handing over to Ali, gave him a brief history of the Service and assured him of unquestionable loyalty of officers and men to work towards suppression of smuggling, increased revenue collection, facilitation among others, in the interest of the nation.
Col. Hameed Ali (retd) was appointed Comptroller-General of Customs on 27 August, 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
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