Across the world, service excellence is celebrated in Customs organisations in appreciation of the roles its personnel play in trade facilitation and security of borders. 26th January every year is set aside as International Customs Day in celebration of the onerous role the organisation plays.
On this day, Nigeria will join other 182 member countries in the world in identifying with the day by recognising and honouring the personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service who have demonstrated professionalism and excellence in service. While many men and women of customs are suitably qualified for recognition, there is a host of them enmeshed in unprofessional practices which have long deprived the nation of the needed revenue. A situation that led President, Muhammadu Buhari to put in place a reformation of the service with the appointment of Colonel Hameed Ali (Rtd.) as Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service on 27th August 2015.
With the enormous expectation from Ali as the CG of the NCS, did Ali have a second thought before he dabbled in the rocky lane of customs administration? As a stranger in the customs service, has his appointment in the NCS brought any significant improvement to the organisation? Would his achievements be deserving of any recognition as customs personnel are being celebrated all over the world?
These and many other questions are such that will be asked by avid followers of events in the Nigerian business and economic space. The job of manning the border of any country has always been a difficult task. Like in ancient times, tax collectors who manned the border posts were usually scorned because people have always wanted to avoid payment of tax. The tax collectors, well aware of this attitude by the people, would demand a bribe way below the expected tax. Little wonder therefore that Jesus Christ was queried by the Pharisees for dining with tax collectors who were not in any way different from the present-day customs personnel.
Ali was a thoroughbred professional who had had a successful military career before he retired and the President must have had an unmatched trust in him before he committed such a task to him. The Nigerian Customs has always been viewed as a cesspit with the stock in trade of the majority of personnel allegedly dipping their hands in the cookie jar. According to Transparency International’s 2010 Global Corruption Barometer, more than half of local households surveyed attested to paying bribes to NCS officers in 2009.
Some news sources speculated that Ali knowing the possible damage the offer could cause to his personality may have initially turned down the offer but was prevailed upon by his contemporaries who felt he would help to bring sanity to the notorious organisation. His eventual appointment was however greeted with many criticisms from Nigerians, including the Nigerian Senate who quarried his justification for not adorning the costume of Comptroller-General of NCS. Some other sources also said there were agitations by the World Customs Organisation (WCO) over the appointment of non-customs officers to oversee the organisation in Nigerian.
Ali, like Jesus Christ, came with a new form of message, lived among the people but he was hated for it because his people would not like attitudinal and cultural change. Against all odds, Ali faced the mission of redeeming the battered image of the NCS, not minding the errors of NSC in the past or the imagery of its personnel may have created in the minds of the people.
In his maiden speech to the NCS management, Ali had conveyed the mandate of Mr President to the officers hinge on reformation, restructuring and revenue generation. He pleaded with the management to rather see him as an aborigine than a stranger in the NCS family. He noted that he was in their midst to strengthen the service.
After six years on the saddle, Ali’s claim to pragmatism, tackling endemic issues relating to a personnel shortage, corruption and border insecurity is a subject of public debate He’d once said that he would want to be remembered for putting the NCS on “a pedestal of fast development’’ when he featured as a guest in one of the News Agency of Nigeria’s fora in Abuja on 14th February 2021.
Ali also announced during the celebration of International Customs Day 2021 at the NCS headquarters, Abuja, that the NSC would go digital once it concludes its automation system by 2022. He explained that the President had approved the e-Customs Project for the service. He added that when fully functional, any Customs officer, who cannot handle the computer, would be shown the exit door.
“We hope that once that platform is put in place, in two years, every activity in Customs will be paperless and digital. That is why we have been notifying our officers that everybody must know how to operate computers, otherwise, in the next two years, anybody that cannot handle computers is out of custom’’, the Nigerian Customs boss said.
Coincidentally, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) is dedicating 2022 to scaling up Customs Digital Transformation by Embracing a Data Culture and Building a Data Ecosystem. Ali stated that the NCS was prepared for African Continental Free Trade Agreement as every aspect that concerned the NCS had been adhered to. He further added that N1.5 trillion revenue generated by the NCS in 2020 was a pleasant surprise as he hailed his officers and men for working so hard to generate such an amount.
On 20th September 2021, the Customs Area Controller, Musa Abdullahi, also took delivery of two Nuctech Mobile Scanners MT1213DE, to help reduce the cumbersome 100 per cent examination of cargo carried out by officers and men of the Service. The scanners came in with accessories onboard Glovis Horizon Leader from the Port of Shanghai, China. While speaking the Assistant Area Controller who took the delivery of the consignment at the Tin-can Island Port said, “Integration of scanning into the clearance procedure for imports is in line with global best practice for trade facilitation. According to him, “the key objective of deploying scanners is to reduce significantly, the time needed for physical inspection of goods which generates extensive cost and creates multiple burdens and inconveniences for both the importers and the Customs operations.’’
Is the NCS better off with Ali? Has the image of the NCS been truly laundered as claimed by Ali? Rulers’ World had a chat with Mrs Bunmi Akindele, who engages in cross-border trade. She explained that she buys used clothes in Cotonou, Republic of Benin and brings them to Nigeria through the Seme border. She said, “the business has been so difficult because the cost of buying and bringing items to Nigeria has increased significantly because of border closure”. When asked if she pays any fee to the Nigerian government for bringing her items to Nigeria, she said, “We pay some money as a group to the crossers who are marshalled by the Customs officers after having an agreement with them.” It will be recalled that Ali affected the closure of all land borders and subsequently imposed a ban on all imports and exports across the borders in 2019.
In another chat with Mr Johnson Kolade, who deals in the importation of used cars, called Tokunbo, attested to an improved service at the ports. He however expected that the government needed to do more on digitisation of its services to reduce corrupt tendencies. Rulers’ World’s attempt to speak with a few staff members of the organisation on welfare and remuneration was unsuccessful.
The NCS as an organisation with the triple role of revenue generation for government, security functions in combating smuggling, keeping out narcotics and illegal weapons, and trade policy enforcement is undoubtedly amongst the key agencies of government, it is believed that Ali will not rest on his acclaimed laurels but show Nigerians that the Nigeria Customs Service can be straightened out completely.
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