Four (4) Deputy-Comptroller of Customs and five (5) Assistant-Comptrollers have been dismissed as the Comptroller-General of Customs Col. Hammed Ali (Rtd) flushes out twenty-nine (29) corrupt senior officers from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
Twenty-nine (29) senior officers of the Service were ejected for various acts of gross misconduct, and the others were also among the forty-four (44) senior officers punished for actions capable of compromising national economy and security.
Only last week, the Customs had ejected 17 junior officers for offences ranging from drug addiction, certificate forgery, theft and absence from duty from January to September 2016.
The Public Relations Officer of the Service, Mr. Wale Adeniyi revealed this dismissal in a press release earlier today.
Other officers dismissed include; seven (7) Chief Superintendents of Customs, four (4) Superintendents, among others.
It is worrisome that the names of the 29 senior officers were not disclosed to the media, neither did the service disclose in details the nature of their offences.
However, the CGC affirmed that the process leading to the actions taken on the officers was in line with the Public Service Rules (PSR).
“We will give all officers fair hearing in line with the principle of natural justice. We will however insist that sanctions be punitive, not only to match the offence committed, but to serve as deterrent to others”, the CGC remarked at Management meeting convened on the report of the Disciplinary Committee.
The Customs Service has also retired ten (10) other officers, while the appointment of one (1) other officer was terminated. Four (4) officers were given written warnings to be of better conduct while another 4 officers who were investigated and tried for some offences were exonerated.
According to the report, officers affected in this exercise were investigated for involvement in improper examination and release of containers without proper documentation and payment of duties, illegal release of goods in advance before the arrival of vessels, collection of bribe to release prohibited items, release of export prohibitions, fraudulent sale of seized items, use of fake certificates and bribery to secure auctioned goods.
