ABUJA: The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) is engulfed in crisis over recent appointments and promotions ordered by the Comptroller-General, Col. Hameed Ali (retd).
The cause of the crisis is the lack of geo-political zones balancing and alleged favouritism.
Following the resignation of six Deputy Comptrollers- General (DCGs), Col Ali had announced the promotions and announcements of new DCGs and Assistant Comptroller Generals (ACGs). In the new appointments, all the six geopolitical zones produced one DCG each. They are P. C. Ukaigwe (South-East), A. Warikoru (South-South), G. O. Adeyemo (South-West), Dan Ugo (North-Central) I. A. Umar (North-East and I. I. Suleiman (North-West).
While only two zones produced four ACGs, others had three, two, one and none.
In the new appointments, while the South-West and South-South have four ACGs each, North-West has three, North-East two, North-Central one, and South-East none. The ACGs are C. Edkie, A. Chidi, M. N. Abueh and P. K. Iferi (South-South); F. A. Dosumu, A. T. Odunmbaku, F. Adegoke and O. Aremu (South-West); Robert Alu (North-Central); Sanusi Umar and Abdulkadir Azarema (North-East).
Sources revealed that officers from South-East, North- Central and North-East are complaining over the lopsided nature of the appointments, saying the top hierarchy of the Customs has never been so composed as at now.
