Tension in Lagos, as Customs retire 34 officers

Tension in Lagos, as Customs retire 34 officers
By Simon Echewofun Sunday & Eugene Agha, Lagos | Publish Date: Oct 30 2015 9:29PM | Updated Date: Oct 31 2015 5:06
Tension in Lagos, as Customs retire 34 officers
Comptroller General of Customs retired Col Hameed Ali

Thirty-four officers of the Nigeria Customs Services (NCS) yesterday vacated their office in the ongoing reorganisation of the Service. Top on the list are five Deputy Comptrollers General, including the erstwhile acting Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), DCG John Atte, who headed the finance department.
 NCS spokesman Wale Adeniyi, said in a statement that the reorganisation was one of the core mandates of the new CGC, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd). He said the retirements were part of measures to kick-start the repositioning of the NCS for improved performance.
 Daily Trust had exclusively reported the voluntary retirement of the five DCG - Ibrahim Mera, Musa Tahir, Austin Nwosu, AkinadeAdewuyi and Mr. Atte. Three others in the rank of Assistant Comptroller-General were also affected in the re-organisation exercise.
  They are Madu Mohammed, Secretary to the Nigeria Customs Board, Victor Gbemudu, Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘A’ and Bello Liman, who was at the headquarters. The statement said the rest are of the rank of comptrollers serving at the headquarters, zonal offices and various area commands.
 Meanwhile, palpable tension hovers around the various Lagos and Ogunstates NCS formation over the retirements. At Apapa, PTML, Lilypond, Seme and the Federal Operation units, officers were seen in groups discussing the issue, noting that the full list of those retired was yet to be released.
 A senior officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the tension was heightened by the fact that many of the top officers still around were not sure whether their names were on the list or not. He said officers were glued to their computers all through the better part of yesterday expecting to see the list