His Excellency
Bola Ahmed Tinubu
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
My President Sir,
SIT TIGHT SYNDROME AN ANATHEMA OF AFRICAN CULTURE (NIGERIA CUSTOM SERVICE AS CASE STUDY)
Leadership Integrity Forum is an NGO Incorporated to promote best practice of public administration and discourage acts and omissions that promotes corruption in public administration worldwide.
We are writing to intimate the President of an occurrence in one of the critical agency of governance which is Nigeria Customs Service of which its Bill was recently assented to by the former President of Nigeria, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari.
When in May, 2023 the news came around that former President of Nigeria, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, assented to the all awaited Bill on the Nigeria Customs Service Act, it is the expectation of everyone that the 63 years old retardation of progress and fiscal stagnancy is a thing of the past in our economic recovery and revenue enhancement.
The Bill came with some fine innovations that has given kudos to its acclamation; notably, is the putting of round peg in the round hole, this has been the bane of why Customs Service morale has been dampened.
Section 14(1)(a) of the Act which provides as follows “The President shall appoint a career officer from the service not below the rank of Assistant-Comptroller General (who shall be responsible for the overall management of the service) and be accountable for all revenue collections and all expenditures made under this Act”.
The Act gave several other functions to the Comptroller-General under section 14 (b) (c) (e) (f) (g) (h) of the Act which is the appointing provisions for the Chief Executive of the Customs Service created under the Act.
It is the expectation of everyone that since a law comes into operation, after the assent of the President or when it is intended by the Act, by necessary implication the erstwhile Comptroller-General who is not a career officer from the Service of Nigeria Customs should have vacated his sit for the proper and administrative operation of the Act, which cannot be possible unless and until a career officer intended by the Act is a Comptroller-General.
By the provisions of the law, since the Comptroller-General is expected to execute the policies and decisions of the Board, and undertake the administration and carry out the policy thereof, many activities of the Custom Service have remained undone and matters have remained unattended to, since the erstwhile Custom Comptroller-General appointed by the former Head of State and President Col. Hammed Ali (rtd) refused to vacate the office for the new President to administer the provisions of section 14 (1) of the Nigeria Customs Act 2023.
It is the expectation of everyone that the erstwhile Comptroller-General Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) has ceased to be so by operation of the law, and should vacate the office being a political appointee appointed at the instance of the former President.
Nigeria Custom Service is governed by rule of law and not of force, this necessitated the enactment of the new Act and the erstwhile Comptroller-General should be adequately advice to allow for smooth handing over of machinery of administration in the new reformed Custom Service to pave way for the new lease of economic trade facilitation policies provided by the new Act.
By:
Leadership Integrity Forum
An NGO on Leadership without corruption