Indications have emerged that the Deputy Comptroller General (DCG), Hamzat Gummi, may replace Comptroller General, Hameed Ali, a retired colonel, at the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
According to The Nation, DCG Gummi heads tariff and trade of the NCS.
It was however gathered that a Principal Staff Officer (PSO) outside NCS will be appointed to be superior to the CG.
NCS sources said this would limit the service from having a career officer from being fully in charge.
The sources disclosed that All Progressives Congress (APC) politicians from Northwest are rooting for Gummi, noting the agenda is promoted by a group determined to sustain legacies of Ali, including continuation of Customs modernisation project that has become controversial and subject of litigation.
Under Ali, the $3.1 billion Customs modernisation deal has not been implemented due to perceived interests.
Under the arrangement, there is a PSO, a serving general, but working at Customs headquarters which many officers view as an anomaly in a customs management setting.
Some officers hope for an improved paramilitary service when a serving Customs officer is assigned to lead NCS.
Buhari Commissions Customs Headquarters
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday commissioned the newly built Nigeria Customs Service Corporate (NCS) Headquarters in Abuja.
With Buhari at the commissioning of the project are the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Musa Bello, Comptroller-General of NCS, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, and other top government officials.
OBSERVERSTIMES reports that the latest project commissioning by President Buhari is coming shortly after the Nigerian leader inaugurated the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals, established by the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State, on Monday.
In his remark earlier, the Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, said the new smart Corporate Headquarters cost the NCS N19.6 billion.
Adeniyi, who chaired the Organising Committee for the Commissioning of the edifice, said the building had a 12-floor tower with five floors on both wings of the tower and “bridges” linking the two wings.