BY FRANCIS EZEM

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali Rtd has said that the decision of the service to redeploy a total of 70 Comptrollers was in line with the efforts of the management to reinvigorate the operations of the service with a view to meeting current challenges associated with the fight against smuggling, revenue collection and enhance trade facilitation.

According to a statement by the National Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Joseph Attah in Abuja Friday, the affected Comptrollers, whose redeployment takes immediate effect include Comptrollers, Abubakar Bashir who moves from Port-Harcourt II (Onne) to take over from the former Customs Area Controller Apapa Area 1 Command, Musa Jibrin, who also moves to Human Resources Development at the headquarters, Abuja.

Also affected is Comptroller Sa’idu Galadima, who moves from Information Communication Technology ICT at the headquarters to Port-Harcourt Area II (Onne), while Comptroller, Mohammed Aliyu of Seme Command swapped positions with Comptroller, Mohammed Garba of Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’.

In granting his approval for the redeployment, the Comptroller General said: “Federal Government’s policies on agriculture, economy and security can only be successful with a strong, determined and patriotic Customs Service. In the face of challenging security situation and increasing inclination to non-oil revenue drive, the service must step up to be counted as a necessary safety valve for national growth”.

He therefore charged all affected officers to bring their experiences to bear in their new postings by fighting smugglers to a standstill and ensuring that all collectible revenue accruing to the government were duly collected.

Recall that the service had in February this year, carried out a similar redeployment of some Comptrollers, which saw the movement of immediate past CAC, Tin Can Island Port Command, Comptroller Bashar Yusuf to the headquarters as Comptroller, Pre-Arrival Assessment Report PAAR, Ruling Centre and replaced with Comptroller Mohammed Musa, who until his current appointment was in charge of system audit at the Post Clearance Audit PCA unit at the headquarters.