Ex-Customs CG knocks Ali over N1.6bn recruitment

Abiola Seun

A former Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service(NCS), Hamman Ahmed has described as illegal, the appointment of a serving Brigadier General, as the Principal Staff Officer (PSO) , by the current CG of the Service, Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd) .

This is even as Ahmed alluded to the recent allegation of fraud and greed against Ali by Senator Francis Fadahunsi , the Senate’s Deputy Chairman on Customs

The former Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) , Hamman Ahmed described the recruitment of 3,200 candidates into the Service with N1.6billion as one of the illegalities of the current CG.

Ahmed in a chat with newsmen said that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Ali as the Customs CG in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, while the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA ) empowers the Customs Board to appoint , promote and dismiss officers and men of the Customs, adding that, consequently, Ali lacks the power to appoint or dismiss any personnel.

Ahmed who was reacting to the allegation of a former Assistant Comptroller General of the Service and current Senator, Ade Fadahunsi on the alleged use of N1.6billion for recruitment, accused Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) of superintending over monumental infractions at the Service.

Ahmed said the Senator alleged that the Customs boss deliberately outsourced the process of recruitment and training of prospective officers out of greed, despite the availability of requisite facility in the agency to carry out the exercise.

He disclosed that as Fadahunsi has rightly said, there is a fully automated training facility with full accommodation for officers in Ikeja and an advanced training college in Karu, built to university standard for the training of senior officers, and headed by a Deputy Comptroller General, a well-trained officer.

According to him, the one in Ikeja as Fadahunsi pointed out is headed by a Comptroller, adding that the outsourcing of training of officers by the CG, truly amounted to wastage of resources.

Ahmed was appointed as CG in 2008 as a replacement for Buba Jang , and later retired after clocking the mandatory retirement age, having carried out various landmark reforms that professionalize the Service and the officers.