PRESIDENCY APPROVES EXTENSION OF SERVICE TO 3 RETIRING ACGs & 3 COMPTROLLERS IN CUSTOMS
By Timothy Paul Okorocha
The Presidency has exercised a unique gesture, invoking its powers in approving the extension of service of six retiring hardworking officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, by one year.
This is in view of the yawning gap and shortage of senior management staff which their exit would have compounded on the service’s rank and file. The lucky officers are three Assistant Comptrollers General (ACGs), and three Comptrollers.
Impeccable sources from the Presidency disclosed that each of the Assistant Comptrollers General were chosen from the three geo-political zones of the North East, clinched by ACG Imam, in the North West, ACG Isa Umar in charge of Headquarters was chosen, while ACG Kingsley would represent the South East.
The three officers on the Comptroller cadre whose tenures were equally extended by one year include; Comptroller Aweh of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Command, Comptroller Faith in Kwara and one Comptroller Fatai. Most of the Comptrollers’ actual retirement periods were said to have taken effect two weeks ago.
It was not immediately clear if the Presidency’s approval was activated upon a request by the Adewale Adeniyi’s management. It was however, gathered that the Presidency’s approval was despatched to the Customs Headquarters late last week while the concerned personnel are said to have been communicated.
This new strategy is expected to retain trained manpower who still have quality knowledge to impart on the workforce.
Most industry operators see the development as one that will augur well for the service, while some of the workforce speak in hush tones, saying that the government’s latest action would retard the growth of officers looking up to their next ranks and positions.
At the Comptroller General’s conference in Abuja last month, the customs helmsman Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, expressed the fears that the way the trend was going, at least 40 percent of the management personnel would retire from service this year.
This is compounded by the inability of the service to recruit as at when due, to fill the spaces left by retirees. Phone calls to the Comptroller General to inquire if he and few others who have worked their hearts out, will get the same extension treatment when their tenures expire, were not picked, but the National Public Relations officer of the Service, Chief Supt Maiwada, rather stated that he would address the issue through a statement in due course.