By Stephen Ubanna

Muhammed Uba Garba, Mohammed Aliyu, and Jibril Musa, Comptrollers , Federal Operations Unit,  FOU, Zone A, Seme and Apapa respectively, appears to have entered into the good book of  Hameed Ali, a retired Colonel and Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, because of their impressive performance in their respective areas of jurisdiction.  The last but  not the list was Baba-Musa, MA, Comptroller ,Tin-can Island Command.

Ali, who could no longer hide his deep feelings of appreciation  of the Comptroller’s exceptional performance in the areas of anti-smuggling and revenue generation for the government in the first quarter of 2018  was said to have  called them individually to thank  them and urged them to continue the good work without relenting.  The duo of Musa and Baba-Musa of Apapa and Tincan Island respective collected for the government about N82 billion and N77 billion respectively despite the low cargo imports through the ports. The Tincan Island Comptroller may be using his WCO and WTO  background  and experience in Classification and Valuation to block areas of revenue leakage in the Command. Jibril was said to used effectively the Customs Information Communication Technology, ICT, to checkmate what is happening at the port, thus doing  away with the rots previously associated with the Apapa port.

But te Comptroller General, insiders said appears more enthused with the anti-smuggling efforts of Muhammed   in the southwest geo-political  region and Aliyu at the notorious Seme /Badagry axis in Lagos state which had results. This  may earned  the duo the planned additional responsibilities to sanitize Ogun, Oyo/Osun, Niger and Kwarra states  seen as smugglers haven by the Comptroller General. . Aliyu was said to have sanitised Seme axis with the help of an antitracking devise, thus forcing many smugglers to relocate to Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Niger and Kwarra states.

The Seme Comptroller was said to known  more of Kwarra and Niger states as a former Comptroller of the Command. At Niger/ Kwarra, he was said to have made things pretty difficult for smugglers of rice and vehicles from Republic of Benin through the Creeks or road to operate. He was described as an anti-smuggling  Czar by the people.

Muhammed Comptroller  of FOU, Zone A. may have got the highest accolade form the Comptroller General  because he  had shown the stuff , he was made of as an experienced  anti-smuggling officer. He was said to  have used all his  contacts  to tap information on how to track smugglers in the six  states in the south west region. They are Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and Osun states. This is evident going by the trucks load of foreign parboiled rice that had been intercepted by his Command in Oyo and Ogun states alone.

Under his guidance and direction, the Command Lagos Roving team had impounded nine trucks load for smuggled foreign rice  in one operation and another three trucks load at Ogbomosho town. Prior to the Oyo state operation, and acting on credible intelligence,  he had deployed  the team to Idiroko in Ogun state to track a convoy of vehicles loaded with rice from Republic of Benin to Nigeria but the tactical withdrawal of the team to avoid casualty may have given opportunity to the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Squad to step in and intercept the vehicles which was taken to their Dente Police Station, Idolo, Ebute Meta, Lagos Mainland , Local government. The most recent operation of the FOU, Zone A , Command , Customs boss which may have won the heart of the Comptroller General was  said to be on April 16, 2018 at Illogbo Community, Lafenwa, Abeokuta, Ogun state.

It was a very tough operation as  the smugglers showed very strong resistance but the FOU, Zone A,  elmsman, and  was said to be in his office directing operation. The total quantity and making all the necessary contacts with Valentine Ntomchukwu,  the Ogun state Commissioner of Police and the Army to provide reinforcement for his officers on the operation.  He was also said to have reached out to counterpart at Ogun Command  who may have been taken surprise  but he did not hesitate in proving reinforcement for the team to rout the smugglers and dispossess of their smuggled rice in their make shift  shanties.  The total quantities of rice collected from the Illogbo makeshift shanties alone was 2,671 , ”50kg” bags of rice despite people stiff resistance.

It was therefore not surprising why the Comptroller was not happy that his absence in the Command on Saturday, April 14, 208, to attend to family matters at his home state created a big vacuum as one operation which was said to have been supervised by one Yahaya, the Deputy Comptroller, Enforcement ended up a flop. This is because of the drivers attached to the Lagos Roving team that went on the operation was abducted by the smugglers. At press time, the where about of the smuggler  remain unknown.

Sources told the Magazine that the the Command be given a clue by an informant of  a place  at Sango Otta, the Commercial nerve center of Ogun state where about 400 smuggled exotic vehicles were parked  including rice. Perhaps, Yayaya, wants to prove to the Comptroller that he could be counted upon when it comes to anti-smuggling operations, that he could not wait to get proper approval and plan on how to carry out the operation but quickly dispatched the Lagos Roving to the scene to evacuate the items. he got it wrong. This is because, information may have filtered out to the smugglers by fifth Columnists within the Command that FOU team are coming to raid the area.

It was learnt that  the team had successfully entered the area but seeing the crowd who were battle ready were forced to retreat to avoid casualties. One of the drivers of the operational vehicles was said to have  entered Shoprite location at Otta to make U-turn but fell into the waiting hands of the smugglers. He was said to have been abducted while some officers who were with him in the operational Van were manhandled. They were however rescued by the combined team of the Customs, Army and the police and quickly rushed to hospital for treatment. It was the first major operational disaster that had been carried out  by FOU, Zone A, since Muhammed was re-deployed from FOU, Zone C, Owerri, Imo state , to the Command in 2017.

The Magazine learnt that the FOU, Zone A, Comptroller on getting back to Lagos had stepped up the man-hunt  for the abducted Customs driver. He was said to have mobilized some fierce looking officers armed to the teeth to Otta to assess the situation. Insiders told the Magazine, Ntomchukwu, the Ogun state police Commissioner was said to have given him about 10 additional policemen armed to the Army. The Brigade Commander at Abeokuta was not left as he deployed some soldiers to accompany the Customs Comptroller to the scene at Attack.

Many traders had taken to their heels and forcefully lock up their rice shops when they saw the security operatives invade Otta. But when they found out that the Customs top shot and the  other security operative had  not come to harass them , they kept calm but their shops were still under lock and key.  An officer who was at the scene confirmed that the Comptroller saw hips of rice in one two uncompleted buildings he passed.

It was gathered that there was a directive from the Comptroller  General urging Muhammed and his team to evacuate the  smuggled foreign rice found in the area but was told that it was risky because the security operatives would be forced to shoot at the crowd.  The Comptroller was also said to have told Dangladima, the Deputy Comptroller General  , Enforcement and Investigation, the same thing.

Having assessed the situation on ground at Otta, insiders told the Magazine that there was virtually no work at the Command on Monday. April 16, 2018 to review the situation  and the Command operational strategies.  The Comptroller was said to have waited on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at a  Management meeting to read the riot to the officers. He was said  to have made it clear to the officers that on no account must any officer embark on any operation both within or outside Lagos no matter the confidence reposed on the informant without his approval. This is to avoid a repeat of the Otta incident. H e was said backed up the verbal warning  with a written memo which was  handed over  to all the team leaders including the Lagos  Roving and the Crack Squad.  Many see it as a Coup against  those officers who have been going out on operation on the orders of their team or Surveillance leaders without seeking the approval of the Comptroller.

As at Wednesday, April 18, 2018, the hard-line position of  Muhammed on the officers was the talk of the day. The riot act dominated discussion of officers wherever they gather.   Officer who knew Muhammed  as younger officer  at the old Gongola Command, now Adamawa /Taraba Command said  he is a man of his words.  They fears that any officer who dares to flout the directive would have himself  to blame as he would not spare him.

While  Muhammed , the FOU, Zone A, Comptroller is still robbing minds with other security agencies on how to rescue  a driver attached to the Command abducted by smugglers, three Toyota Prado jeeps, 2017, driven by  three police officers  and other offices fully armed  with an Oyo state government  escort  vehicle was said to have been intercepted by a team from the Command .  The vehicles were suspected to have been smuggled with the government escort vehicle.

Sources told the Magazine that exotic vehicles were re-routed to the Ikeja premises of the Command  where the officers were disarmed. The Comptroller was said to have ordered that their names be taken, which was quickly done.  Based on the names, he was said to have contacted the Oyo state government  House to confirm that the vehicles were  bought by the state government and the officers were acting on instruction to take  it to deliver it at Government House , Ibadan.

the Oyo stae government officials may have thought that it is easy to armtwist  Muhammed ,  the FOU, Zone A, Customs boss to get the release of the vehicles, they got it wrong.

A source at Oyo state government House told the Magazine that  when it became obvious to the Oyo state contact person  that the Comptroller is difficult to bend,  he was said to have reached out to a close contact of the Comptroller who is an officer based in Ibadan  . The government official was said to have told the officer  to his friend that the state government was ready to pay the duties on the vehicles. the mention of the payment of duties on the  exotic vehicles may have convinced  the Comptroller that they were smuggled vehicles and therefore had no genuine Customs papers.

The sourced disclosed that the Oyo state government may be having difficulty getting the release of the Vehcles from Lagos because it is no longer within the powers of the Area Comptroller to use his discretion to do  it. This is because Al, the Comptroller and Dangladima, the Deputy Comptroller General, Enforcement and Investigation had been informed about the detained state government Toyota Prado jeeps. This is an indication that Abiola Ajimobi, the Oyo state governor could only facilitate the release of the vehicles by getting the approval of Ali, the Comptroller General.

But the governor  may find it an uphill task convincing the Comptroller General to release the vehicles because of his stance against smuggling of vehicles a into the country. Worried by the low patronage of Nigeria RORO  terminal  in vehicles import into the country, president Muhammadu Buhari, on the advice of Ali, the Comptroller General, had banned the  importation of vehicles and rice through the land border on January 1, 2015.  This is where Ajomobi may have to seek the intervention of Buhari on the matter as a serving governor on the ticket of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC.

There are indications in both officials and unofficial quarters that if the Ali agrees, on the orders of the President to release the vehicles, he  may still insist that the buyers direct the FOU ,Zone A, Comptroller to the Cart mart where the vehicles were bought to do right thing. This is a warning to ther state governments which patronize smuggled  vehicles to watch as the Customs personnel may be on their trail.

By Stephen Ubanna

More facts have emerged why officers  of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, with high expectation of wearing their new rank after last November  promotion examination may have  to wait for period of time  to allow the Customs and Excise Board to meet to ratify the results.

The Source learnt that the results had been compiled and forwarded to Kemi Adeosun , the minister of Finance, since last January  with a covering memo by Hameed Ali, a retired Colonel and Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, but the minister appears to be sitting it, in what officers described as a ”ministerial delay tactics”.

Sources at the Ministry had attributed the delay by  the minister  to give her nod to the  Secretary of the Customs and Excise Board to arrange for a meeting to ratify the November 2017, Customs officers promotion examination because of the cat and mouse  relation between  Adeosun, the minister of Finance and Ali, the Customs boss, who are both political appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All progressive Party Congress, APC.

The Magazine learnt that the frosty relation  beteen the duo started from the day the Ogun born minister of Finance was  allocated ted the Ministry by Buhari. The ministry has the Constitutional mandate oversee the agencies under it including the NCS and the Federal Inland Revenue, Services,FIRS.

Going by the Constitutional provision, the President is to appoint the Head of the these ministerial agencies on the recommendation of the minister. But the reverse was the case in the case of the appointment of Ali, the Customs Comptroller General, thus putting his loyalty to the minister  in doubt.

It was gathered that  on several occasions the Customs boss had bypassed the minister to the president to secure approval for Customs requests. Some of these approvals may not have gone down well with the minister who  may have considered as a gross insubordination. but that  was how far  she could go as she could not query him.

This is evident  going by the release of the  promotion examination which he had organised without ministerial approval. Many believe that he could release the results  without ministerial approval because he had the backing of the President.

Insiders told the Magazine that the minister may have clipped the wings of the Customs with the inauguration of the Customs and Excise Board . the Board had the minister of Finance as the Chairman and the Customs Comptroller General as the Vice Chairman. The  source disclosed that only the minister has the Constitutional mandate to call for the meeting of the Board to ratify promotions, appointments, retire or sack officers.

in spite of the fact that the Board had been inaugurated, Ali was said to have been carrying on  the affairs of the government revenue collecting agency as if it does not exist. Officers and men of the Service have been retired and sacked unilaterally without the Board approval .

A source who spoke to the Magazine on condition of anonymity disclosed that if it is possible for Ali to release the Customs officers promotion results which is still gathering dust  in the ministry , he would do it and dam the consequence.  this is because  he has released the results of the junior officers which is where his powers stopped.

The source disclosed that that Ali, is no longer finding it funny that the minister was still sitting on the Customs promotion results  in spite of the fact that  the list of the successful officers had been sent to her  with a backup  memo as a prelude for calling for a meeting of the Board to ratify it.  For now, officers who sat for the promotion examination are still at the mercy of the minister to release it.

There are fears in both official and unofficial circles that the Customs officers promotion file may remain unattended to in the minister’s office as long as she wants it unless she changes her mind to order for the Board to meet if she is in the country. This is because she is always out of the country attending one meeting or the other at the World Bank/ International Monetary Fund, IMF, African Development Bank, ADB or renegotiating the country foreign debts with creditor nations.

While in the country, the minister is not as free as people may think of it as she is occupied by other official matters  forcing her to shuttle between the ministry and the Presidency  to give one explanation or the other to the President or Secretary of the Federation.  This may have left with little or no time to pay special attention Customs matters.

Going by  Ali’s plan, another promotion examination  out to have been held  not later than June this year for officers and men of the Service who are due for it.

Investigation by the Magazine shows that Police Corps who sat for their own promotion examination at the same that  the Customs personnel did theirs  had participated in another promotion examination and their results released but Customs officers are still waiting for the outcome of the one conducted last November because of personal interest.

There  This is where  are fears that some officers whose names  had appeared on the retirement lists this year  on account of the mandatory 60 years age limit or who had put in  35 years of Service, according to the Civil Service rule   but who sat for the promotion examination may retire without being decorated with their new ranks.

”this is where the Army, Navy and Air Force are quite different from the NCS”, an Army officer remarked. The officer confirmed that once an officer  partakes in a promotion examination and retires before the promotion was released, he would still be given his appropriated rank and backed dated  to be at the level with his Course mates  at the Nigeria School of Infantry, Kaduna. The Customs Authorities  my have to take a cue  from the Military as a way of encouraging the officers and men of the Service while still in the Service.

Analysts  said the mister of Finance could be pardoned because she may have been occupied with securing Presidential approval for an enhance salary structure for officers and men of the Service  as a revenue generating agency. They felt claimed the minister may have paid more attention to the salary matter than  the Promotion result  as  she could easily handle the later on her own with the meeting of the Board. It would be recalled that at the last World Customs Day Celebration at the Customs Training College, Gwagwalada, She had promised of improved salary structure for the Service, forcing  Customs personnel to jump in uproar.  Charles Edike, an Assistant Comptroller General in-charge of the Customs Training College  could not hide his joy on the mention of the enhanced salary package as he danced uncontrollably on stage while Ali, the Comptroller General and  the senior officers watched. ” officers are still optimistic that the minister would release the Customs  last year promotion results to facilitate  the conduct of the next  examination as well as the release of the enhanced salary package for the Service.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on the recommendation of Ngozi, Okonjo-Iweala, a former minister f Finance and Coordinator of the Economy  appears  to be a former who had taken into consideration the contribution of  Customs in revenue generation for the government that he approved a 7 percent Cost of collection for  the Service and 4 percent Cost of collection for the FIRS, which Staff strength across the country  was not up to that of the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, Ikeja.

By Oji Odu

Nigerians know that it is ‘One Week, One Trouble’ in the power sector. They know that the cause of the darkness experienced in most parts of each day is either that there is shortage in gas supply because the Niger Delta militants had either blown up gas pipelines or vandalised them.

They also know that it is because the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) cannot transmit the generated electricity to the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) because of rusty and outdated transmission network. Nigerians also know that the DISCOs are neither efficient nor effective in making electricity reach the final consumers, because they are only out to collect revenue by hook or crook, and do not have the capacity to invest in the sector to boost distribution infrastructure and maintain them.

What again? Nigerians know that the water level is always and mostly very low to allow increased power supply, including the fact that there are always systems breakdown. There are myriad reasons for making Nigeria ‘a Nation in Darkness’.

However, Nigerians are tired. There is something they don’t want to hear and know from government and the stakeholders in the power sector. They don’t want to hear and know about these alibi’s and lame excuses to justify their failure to boost the power sector.

In a chat with Taiwo Akinjide, a civil servant in Lagos state, he not only expressed anger but pity and disappointment at the rate government is quick to defend its failure to make the power sector work. This followed recent information by government that the power sector had lost about N108 billion in the first quarter of this year due to water, gas, and  transmission constraints.

“ Is government not tired of all this blame game? Don’t they think that Nigerians are tired of the lots of reasons to justify their failure? What the people need is light, electricity to boost their businesses and enjoy improved lifestyle.

“ Nigerians are tired of these lame reasons for poor electricity supply as government continues to justify the DISCOs ripping-off electricity consumers in so many ways without providing the required/paid services, while defending and protecting them from the wrath of the helpless people with so much jargons, indices and statistics which the people do not understand. What the people need is light not bags of reasons for darkness.

“You know that in this part of the world where people still have their indigenous languages on ground, the lingua franca, English language, is best means of telling so much lies to confuse the people who do not really understand it,” he said.

The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI)  recently revealed that the powers sector lost about N108 billion during the first three months of this year due to several constraints inhibiting the regular supply of electricity in the country, including water, gas and transmission constraints.

Released data from the agency revealed that the power sector loses between N1.2 billion to N1.5 billion monthly to water, gas and transmission line constraints.

For instance, on January 25, 2018, average power sent was 3,971mw and 2,302.8mw was not generated due to unavailability of gas. About 417mw was not generated due to unavailability of transmission infrastructure, while 290mw was not generated due to high frequency resulting from unavailability of distribution infrastructure.Therefore, on that day, the sector lost an estimated N1.584 billion due to insufficient gas supply, distribution infrastructure, and transmission challenges.

In his speech, Minister of Power Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, while reiterating Federal Governments commitment towards ending the quagmire in the power sector, acknowledged that the power sector is plagued with structural issues in all key areas- generation, gas supply, transmission and distribution, while the operational capacity of the country’s power plants is less than a third of their installed capacity.

Chronic vandalism has crippled oil and gas pipelines, creating gas shortages at power plants and underinvestment in maintenance and infrastructure has constrained the transmission grid.

“While it is no longer news that we have reached a 7,000MW generation capacity, and have a 5000MW distribution capacity, what is newsworthy is that last month we met with Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), DISCOs, and GENCOs “on how to implement the Eligible Customer Policy and increase connectivity to the 2000MW that is available,” he said.

He disclosed that the Federal Government had secured the World Bank’s approval for $486 million Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) transmission expansion funding, while progress is being made with the same bank for the Rural Electrification and Distribution Expansion Funding.

He expressed joy that in ‘many parts’ of the country connected to the grid, Nigerians are enjoying more light, even though all the problems are not solved. “Citizens acknowledge more power in dry weather, reduced hours of running their generators and reduction in fuel (diesel and petrol) purchase to power generators,” he added.

In his reeaction, Jane Abdul, a University graduate who operates a provision store within Ketu axis of Lagos state, in a chat with the Magazine said: “ Government should know that we are tired of these their watery reasons for poor performance. They were elected to solve these problems, some of which may be true.

“ My fears are that the NESI did not say how they have been trying to surmount the problems which are not new. Now, government has collected a whooping $486 million loan to boost the transmission network ‘as election approaches’. Who will monitor the right disbursement of this money?

“ Please, what Nigerians need is constant light and not the darkness we are forced to pay for. Whether they like, they should go and collect loan and do it, or find ways of increasing water level or gas supply. What we want is light.”