- CGC warns against firearms abuse
From Uche Usim, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of new Deputy Comptroller Generals (DCGs) and Assistant Comptroller Generals (ACGs) for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
This follows the appointment of the Acting Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi on June 19 and the need to replace senior officers of management cadre who recently retired from service.
The new appointees are DCG Festus Okun, DCG Baba Abdullahi Musa, DCG Albashir Hamisu, ACG Kamardeen Olumoh, ACG Auwal Baba Mohammed and ACG Adeogun Alajogun.
A statement from Customs Spokesman, Abdullahi Maiwada, said the acting CGC thanked the retired members of the management for their meritorious
service, just as he congratulated the newly appointed officers and charged them to redouble their efforts to ensure the Service achieves greater heights in its
mandates of revenue generation, suppression of smuggling and trade facilitation.
In another development, the Customs CG has charged officers and men of the Service to apply tactical measures in dealing with citizens before using firearms, saying that “the use of firearms could only be applied in extreme circumstances that require self-defence.”
The CGC cautioned the senior officers of the Service on Thursday during the official declaration of a sensitization workshop on the practical implementation of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 for Comptrollers and Assistant Legal Advisers at the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College Gwagwalada, Abuja.
He said: “We must not, in any circumstance, use firearms, except we have an absolute necessity for using it. The citizens of this country are there for us to protect.”
The CG has, on many occasions, emphasized that his core principles as the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service are to protect the citizens and improve the efficiency of the Service through enhancing trade facilitation, staff welfare and suppressing smuggling.
He stressed that the core mandate of the Service is saving and protecting the lives and properties of Nigerians, adding that the foundation upon which NCS is built is to be just and honest to the citizens.
The Acting Comptroller-General of Customs has repeatedly emphasized that the new Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 when properly implemented, will improve the proficiency of the Service.