The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has advised the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd.) to appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to relieve him off his duty in the customs as soon as the two aspects of his mandate to restructure and reform the service were reasonably achieved.
The former Deputy National President Logistics NAGAFF, Mr. Ugochukwu Nnadi who made this known in a press release he issued recently in Lagos said that NAGAFF was worried that if he dabbled into the revenue function of the service, he may likely defile his respect and integrity he earned over the years for himself.
Nnadi restated that aside from trade policies of the Government with regard to forex allocations and related matters of 41 traded goods into Nigeria, the emergence of Rtd. Col Hameed Ali as the Comptroller General of Customs may have continued to create anxiety and uncertainty in the minds of the many operational officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and the stakeholders.
He maintained that it was not news any longer that the emergence of the Rtd. Col as the CGC may have been considered inappropriate in the minds of many officers and industry stakeholders.
This he said was because of the fact that NCS aside of being a global affiliate of WCO was a highly technical department of the Government dealing with specialized collection on customs and excise duties.
“For clarity and emphasis, WCO is the technical division of World Trade Organisation. The situation at the ports as it is now indicates that systemic corruption is in the increase at the ports because most of the officers are of the belief that they may either be retired or transferred. It is therefore a situation whereby you get what you can, because you do not know what happens next. Aside from the fact that the hydro scanners are not properly working, physical examination of containers are no longer an attraction or a responsibility for obvious reasons.
“This situation is not only a threat to revenue but also a public interest concern. It is most unfortunate that Government even though may have good intentions in the business of governance, there is the need for consultations to be made with the stakeholders and other concerned parties before arriving at conclusions on port related matters and administration.
“The truth is that the appointment of Col. Ali Hameed came as a mix feeling to the officers and stakeholders. What may play out at the moment is to evolve damage control in the leadership of Col. Ali in the Customs because we perceive that these officers may not be happy if the scenario is that
they cannot aspire to the highest position of the Service. As concerned stakeholders the body language of the Rtd. Col. Ali Hameed seems not to be encouraging in the leadership of Customs. Except otherwise stated it is our view that the primary duty of Col. Ali is to carry out the mandate of Mr. President within the shortest possible time frame to restructure, reform and put a system in place that will ensure maximum revenue collection and accounting. In the opinion of NAGAFF it shall be our desire that Rtd. Col. Ali Hameed may wish to appeal to Mr. President to relieve him off the duty in the Customs as soon as the two aspects of his mandate to restructure and reform the Service are reasonably achieved.
“We are worried that if he dabbles into revenue function of the Service he may likely defile his earned respect and integrity signing revenue documents he may not understand the under belly tone. We recall that Alhaji Hamman Bello Ahmed was arraigned in court for an action he took in the case of Vasuwani brothers’ import. He was freed in court because he was very competent and sure of the action he took as the Comptroller General of Customs. Otherwise he might be languishing in jail up till now because there is no mistake in revenue matters of the Government and anything contrary is criminal. We do not envisage a situation where the hunter becomes the hunted because there is no mistake in Customs revenue. The unfortunate thing is that Customs documents have a life span of 7
years before it is off the shelved”, he stated.
The NAGAFF chieftain however observed that the mantra of change in Nigeria was the tonic Col. Hameed Ali needed to right the wrong in the Service over the years insisting that the mandate of Mr. President was sacrosanct and should be carried out in the most transparent manner and time limit.
He continued,” We just hope that CGC Ali would have concluded his assignment within a reasonable time when a new and a core officer of the Service should be appointed by Mr. President to save the image of Nigeria in the global world of Customs organizations”.
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