DEPUTY COMPT MAMMAN ALI OF ADAMAWA/TARABA COMMAND: ONE OF THE BEST PICKS OF THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL
By Timothy Paul Okorocha
The current leadership transition in the Customs Service is coasting home smoothly, consequent on the strategic plan of the digital Comptroller General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, PhD, to see to its logical conclusion early next year.
Almost all the commands nationwide are now manned by officers of the 2009 sets, on the rank of Deputy Comptrollers, in line with one of the mandates given to the Customs Boss by President Tinubu to promote officers to take over the mantle of leadership, come next year.
Bashir Adewale Adeniyi has graciously stuck to that mandate; promoting several Comptrollers to the rank of Assistant Comptroller General (ACG), and redeploying Deputy Comptrollers to take their positions.
One striking appointment in the last one week by the CG was that of Deputy Comptroller Mamman Ishaku Ali, an anti-smuggling expert domiciled in the North East, and causing havoc in the ranks of economic saboteurs (dare-devil smugglers), using the platform of the Operation Whirlwind, charged with stemming the illegal movement of Nigeria’s petroleum products across the borders into neighboring countries.
Policing the Adamawa/Taraba corridors, for any officer, remains one of the most difficult jurisdictions. First, the two states parade a lot of serving and retired military personnel. Secondly, the two states are home to two former Comptrollers General of the Customs Service, meaning that any officer in charge of the Adamawa/Taraba command must be sensitive to all these sentiments, in order to dispense his functions with the utmost sense of discipline, transparency and candor. Insurgency, banditry no less experienced in these states.
This equation must be taken into consideration before any Comptroller is despatched to the ancient city of the Lamidos as a resident officer. Mamman Ali comes in handy as first choice of the Comptroller General. He has given a tip of what he is made of, while superintending as the Commander of Operation Whirlwind for the entire North East for more than two years.
Inspite of the difficult terrain in the zone, Mamman Ali recorded unprecedented seizures of petroleum products, only perhaps competing with the Lagos zone, the epicenter of petroleum smuggling, until the coming of Assistant Comptroller Abubakar Ahmed Zaki who tamed the ugly trend, giving smugglers a bloody nose.
Ali, even though, is more than able to confront the smuggling menace, is conscious and determined to prosecute the anti-smuggling war like never before. Policing the two states is characterized by several hiccups which include; ignorance of the border community members on dangers of smuggling. Another problem is interagency rivalry.
In view of education, some of them rebel against government policies on smuggling, seeing Customs operatives as their enemies. They do not understand that their communities are so underdeveloped and filled with crimes is because of their engagement in smuggling activities.
They sometimes do not want government roads around their communities to be put in good shape because they believe good roads will make security agencies saddled with anti smuggling operations to have access into their communities, thereby, intervening and disrupting their smuggling activities.
Interagency rivalry is a major problem in years past, where some agencies were found performing functions that are given to another by law, thereby, acting outside the jurisdiction of their agencies.
Deputy Comptroller Ali must, in line with his anti-corruption trade mark, strive to stamp out corruption within the system. Every greedy and deviant officer that always sabotage the efforts of the Service to suppress smuggling should be disciplined in line with existing public service rules.
Luckily, the new Acting Area Controller has said discipline is not negotiable. ‘I expect officers to respect their superiors, cooperate with their colleagues and carry out lawful instructions without unnecessary excuses’
He has also indicated of more dependence on intelligence gathering, using available technology, share information and adopting better methods of identifying and stopping illegal activities taking place around the borders.
What do we expect of an officer who has put in more than eleven years at the Customs Intelligence Unit(CIU)?
The Comptroller General will be pleasantly marveled at the positive difference that Mamman Ali will be bringing on board in weeks and months from now, justifying the confidence reposed in him, and even moving him up for higher responsibilities.