The lack of enthusiasm of the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) to fill the vacant positions in the management team of the Service, is currently causing heightened anxiety among the top echelon of the para-military agency.

Investigations revealed that the appointment of some of the  Assistant/Deputy Comptroller Generals is said to have been delayed primarily due to the inability of the Customs board to convene a formal meeting to deliberate and take decisions on the existing positions.

The Customs Spokesman, Deputy Comptroller Joseph Attah, was reported to have confirmed the delay which he said was not the fault of the CGC Hameed Ali but the inability of the Customs board to meet, a development which he lamented has affected all the officers who are due for promotions across board.

He explained that it was beyond the control of the CGC alone to fill these vacant positions as it is the powers of the Customs board to make such a decision.

”You know the Board has not sat and it is even affecting me that is talking to you. Why am I not a Comptroller yet?”, he asked rhetorically.

Attah said due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and other intervening issues, the board has not been able to sit, adding that the CGC has tried his utmost best to prevail on the Chairman of the board to convene the board meeting so that all these outstanding issues could be sorted out.

However, it was gathered that this delay in the meeting of the board to consider the issues of promotions and appointments into the management team of the Customs has bred unhealthy speculations.

It was being speculated that the delay was to give some senior officers already on the management cadre from a certain section of the country undue advantage over their counterparts whose promotion and subsequent appointments into the top echelon of the service are still being delayed.

Sources further claimed that those officers who are placed on acting capacity as a result of no movement in the organogram of the service are becoming more overbearing and dictatorial.

“It is important to note that the hierarchical appointments that formed the different positions of customs management offices are very crucial as it is expected to follow due process and importantly, a must to capture the six geo-political zones”, a knowledgeable source in Customs whispered to our Correspondent.

Presently, top officers in acting capacities are many, while due to vacant positions especially at the Deputy Comptroller General of Customs (DCG) levels, some are occupying and enjoying multiple juicy positions at the same time despite the availability of more qualified personnel to fill the gaps.

Sources pointed to what is playing out at the Investigation, Enforcement and Inspection (IE&I) department of the Customs which presently has no Deputy Comptroller General (DCG) of Customs in place since the disengagement of the immediate past DCG, Chidi N.

It was gathered that since his retirement, Compt. U. G. Mohammed, who is the Acting Assistant Comptroller General, has been functioning as the de facto Deputy Comptroller General (DCG), calling the shots, while there are reports of his overbearing influence on the Enforcement Commands and units of the Customs nationwide to the extent of trying to run them as if he is the Controlling helmsman on the field.

“It is however wise to act fast in the regards of filling these vacant positions with the appropriate officers before the service would be overwhelmed by reports of sectionalism, tribalism, or marginalization, a speculation that seems to be already gaining ground” a source declared.

“As it currently appears, the CGC is comfortable with mostly Northerners who are on these acting capacities to the detriment of other regions”, another source alleged.

Industry watchers believe that the workload of the Enforcement unit which ranked shoulders with the revenue arm of the service is too huge a task for an ACG who oversees the two positions and who could not cope with the enormous workload and might be constrained to take decisions on certain issues.

“The present situation where Comptroller Mohammed Superintendent over a highly sensitive Enforcement Department as an Assistant Comptroller General as well as Deputy Comptroller General can only breed despotic tendencies, and tool for intimidation against subordinates which will grant him the enormous power and influence such unfettered authority brings”, another source declared.

However, Attah declared that the delay was neither deliberate nor targetted at anyone as it is being wrongly speculated.

He explained that the delay affected everyone who is eagerly waiting for the board to sit to approve their elevation to the next rank, including those in the acting capacity.

”This delay has also affected the confirmation of those who are in the acting capacity to get confirmation. Do you think they will be happy?

”It is when something happened and you are discriminated against, that is when you can then complain, but what do you do when it doesn’t happen because of a certain situation?”, Attah queried.