Features

Customs’ boss, overflexing his muscles

 

By Eric Teniola

Of all the Chief Executives of the Nigerian Customs Service to date,
none has been more powerful than Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Alli (rtd.),
the sixty-four year old post graduate criminologist, from Dass Local
Government Area of Bauchi State. On November 21, 1994, General Sani
Abacha, GCFR, appointed him along with Justice Ibrahim Nadhi Auta, a
Federal High Court Judge in Lagos and Justice Etowa Enyong Arikpo, a
Judge in the Cross Rivers state High Court to try Ken Saro- Wiwa,
Ledun Mitee, Barinom Kiobel, John Kpaniene and Baribor Berai in the
aftermath of the Ogoni crisis in Rivers state. On August 22, 1996, the
same General Abacha appointed him as the Military Governor of Kaduna
state. He served as Governor till August 1998 following General
Abacha’s death. On August 27, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR,
appointed Colonel Ibrahim Hameed Alli, as the Comptroller General of
Customs Service.
His predecessors from the colonial era till now Mr.T.A. Wall, Mr.
Nicol, Mr. E.P.C. Langdon, Mr. S.G. Quinton, Mr. Ayodele Diyan, Mr.
Henry Etim Duke, Alhaji Shehu Musa, Mr. Oyebode Oyeleye, Alhaji
Abubakar Musa, Dr. Bello Haliru Muhammed, Major General S.O.G. Ango,
Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Mustapha, Mr. David Akintayo Ogungbemile (acting),
Jacob Gyang Buba, Bello Hamman, Dr. Bernard-Shaw Nwadialo and Dikko
Inde Abdullahi, never had the kind of power and influence that Colonel
Hammeed Alli, now has. To prove the extent of his power, I refer to
the circular dated November 6, 2019 and signed by Chidi A. (Deputy
Comptroller-General) for Comptroller-General of Customs, titled
“SUSPENSION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS SUPPLY TO FILLING STATIONS WITHIN 20
KILOMETRES TO ALL BORDERS”. It reads, “The Comptroller-General of
Customs has directed that henceforth no petroleum product no matter
the tank size is permitted to be discharged in any filling station
within 20kilometres to the Boarder. Consequently, you are all to
ensure strict and immediate compliance, please.”
In government, there is what we call schedule of responsibilities. I
want to believe that Nigeria has not graduated to a fictitious country
adapted by Henry William Sydney Porter (1862-1910) called BANANA
REPUBLIC.
Obeying the law is one way of ensuring stability in the society. Have
you ever wondered what would happen in our society if there were no
rules and regulations? Anyone could just get up and do anything but
you cannot complain because there is no defined behaviour for people
in the society to follow.  It is interesting how we are socialised to
believe a particular way is the best way of doing something and we
insist that things be done that way. Sometimes we do not even know the
reason(s) why we are told things should be done this way or that way.
If we were taught as we were growing up that it is best to greet
people with our left hand, I am very sure we would have been
emphasising on that and felt insulted anytime someone greets us with
the right hand. Or if we were brought up to understand that slapping
each other was the best way to say hello, we would have guarded this
value jealously. Ironically, what is acceptable in one society may not
be unacceptable in another society because different societies across
the world have varying beliefs, values, rules and regulations. The
reason why rules and regulations are made in our society is to help
maintain peace and order in the society.
The directive in that circular should have been issued by President
Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, who is also the Minister of Petroleum or the
Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva or the Minister
of Finance, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed or the Minister of Internal Affairs,
Ogbeni Adesoji Rauf Aregbesola or the Secretary to the Government of
the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha or the Group Managing Director of
the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari or the Director of the Department of
Petroleum Resources, Mr. Mordecal Ladan.
The sale of Petroleum products either within or outside the borders is
not part of the schedule of the Comptroller- General of the Nigeria
Customs Service.
As of today, the Minister of Finance is still the Chairman of the
Board of the Nigeria Customs Service while the Comptroller General of
Customs is the Vice-Chairman of the board.
At present the Nigeria Customs Service is run by the
Comptroller-General who oversees the work of six deputy comptroller
generals in the following departments: Corporate Support Services;
Tariff & Trade; Enforcement, Investigation, and Inspection;
Modernization, Research and Economic Relations; Excise, Industrial
Incentives and Free Trade Zone; Human Resource Development.
The circular is talking about the sale of Petroleum products along the
border. The circular is not talking about the closure of border, an
issue that must have been discussed at the Federal Executive Council
presided over by the President and I am sure the President must have
seen the merits and demerits on the need to close our borders. Even if
the President gave such a directive to Colonel Hameed Alli, to
execute, we all know how he is extremely close to the President for he
is among the UNTOUCHABLES around now, the circular did not say so and
there is nothing negative in the circular saying so. I am aware that
the UNTOUCHABLES in Nigeria of today get away with anything and
nothing will happen to them.
A pronouncement in the circular that Colonel Hameed Alli was carrying
out the directive of the President could have given the circular more
weight. We are discussing about the powers of the Comptroller-General
of the Nigeria Customs. The sale of Petroleum products is still under
the NNPC and no law has taken that responsibility from the NNPC.
According to the Nigerian constitution, all minerals, gas, and oil the
country possesses are legally the property of the Nigerian federal
government. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is the
Oil Corporation through which the federal government of Nigeria
regulates and participates in the country’s petroleum industry.
The Nigeria Customs Service was formerly under the Ministry of Finance
before 1985. General Ibrahim Babangida, GCFR, placed it directly under
the Ministry of Internal Affairs and that lasted from 1985 till 1992.
He later transferred the Customs back to the Ministry of Finance in
1992 and that arrangement is still on till date.
I have read and reread the decrees of the Nigeria Customs Service
especially the post of the Comptroller General, I never came across in
the decrees where the Comptroller General of Customs will execute the
directive in that circular. I am equally not undermining the success
of Colonel Hameed Alli since he became the Comptroller-General of
Customs, for example, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has generated
about N1.002 trillion from January to September. The service recorded
the highest revenue of N123.6 billion in July, followed by N118.6
billion in May.
Let’s take a look at the legal framework of the Nigeria Customs
Service. The Customs & Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap 45, Law of the
Federation of Nigeria, 2004 vests Legal Authority in the Nigeria
Customs Service to act on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria
in all Customs matters. This is supported by various supplementary
legislation including:
Customs and Excise (Special Panel and other Provisions) Cap 45, Law of
the Federation of Nigeria, 2004; Customs Duties (Dumped and Subsidized
Goods) Act Cap 87 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria; Nigeria
Pre-shipment Inspection Decree No. 36 of November, 1979 further
amended by Decree No. 11 of 19th April, 1996; Decree No. 45 of 1st
June, 1992 as amended by Decree No, 77 of 29th August, 1993; Customs
and Excise Management (Amendment) Act No. 20 of 2003; Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The law relating to Customs Agents is contained in the Customs &
Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap 45, Law of the Federation of Nigeria,
2004 and the Customs and Excise Agents (Licensing) Regulations 1968
(Legal Notice 95/1968 as amended). Nowhere did I come across the power
of the Comptroller-General to execute the November 6th circular.
By virtue of delegated authority, the Comptroller-General is
authorized to issue guidelines and prescribe internal instructions to
Customs personnels in accordance with the governments’ rules and
regulations as they affect the statutory functions of the Customs
Service.
Executive usurpation of powers because one is close to the President
is very dangerous. An enlightened and civilized society is guided by
rules and regulations.
It was decree 7 of 1970 that gave additional powers to the board of
the Nigeria Customs. On August 29, 1975, the Chairman of the Border of
Customs and Excise, Mr. Henry Duke was retired by General Murtala
Mohammed, GCFR, along with his two deputies, Mr. E. U. Emoren and
Alhaji I. Halidu, the Preventive Commander. General Murtala Mohammed
then posted the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Alhaji
Shehu Ahmadu Musa (1935-2008), the late Makama Nupe, as Director of
Customs with a Mandate to reorganise the organisation. Expectedly the
late Makama Nupe brought his civil service experience into the
organisation. The reforms he carried out formed the foundation of the
Nigeria Customs Service till date. Before then the Customs was
operating as two parallel services–Revenue (Technical) and Preventive
(Enforcement). This parallel method of running the two services
created serious conflicts and immense administrative problems. This
seriously affected the overall efficiency and attitude of officers and
men with the attendant negative impact on the image of the Department.
On November 7, 1985, General Ibrahim Babangida, GCFR, constituted a
committee under Alhaji Yahaya Gusau (1916-2008), the late Shettima
Sokoto, to probe the high level of smuggling on Nigerian borders. As a
result of government acceptance of the report, thus, the Customs,
Immigration and Prisons Services Board (CIPB) were created with the
promulgation of Decree No. 14 of 11th January 1986. This decree
abolished the Board of Customs and Excise with this new Board taking
over it’s functions and in addition absorbed the functions of the
Federal Public Service Commission with regard to appointment,
promotion and disciplinary control over staff of the Department.
On November 27, 1993, General Sani Abacha, GCFR, set up the
Major-General Paul Tarfa Panel to probe the activities of the Nigeria
Customs Service. The Panel was given one year to conduct the probe and
in the meantime a Sole Administrator in the person of Brigadier –
General (later Major–General) Samuel Omiago Ango was appointed.
However, he was in charge of the Nigeria Customs Service until 4th
Feb. 1999 when General Abdusalam Abubakar, GCFR, appointed Ahmed Aliyu
Mustapha (OFR) a career Customs officer as the substantive
Comptroller-General of Customs. From that time till now,
Comptroller-Generals have headed the Nigeria Customs Service. They
included Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Mustapha, late David Akintayo Ogungbemile
(acting), Jacob Gyang Buba, the present the Gbong Gwom Jos and
chairman of Plateau Council of Chiefs, Hamman Bello Ahmed, Dr. Benard
Shaw Nwadialo and Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi. None of them exercised
the kind of power that Colonel Hameed Alli is now exercising.
In 2003, President Olusegun Obasanjo set up a Reform Committee headed
by the Minister of state for finance, Mrs. Nenadi Esther Usman. The
Committee recommended a fundamental re-structure of the Service to
re-position it to meet increasing challenges. The late David Akintayo
Ogungbemile, a Deputy Comptroller-General acted as Controller- General
of Customs during that period. Other members of the panel were Alhaji
Nuhu Ribadu, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), Alhaji Waziri Muhammed, Chairman Nigeria Railway Corporation,
Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, Minister of Justice, Mr. Adekunle O.  Adedayo,
retired Assistant Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service and
Alhaji Kabir A. Muhammed, State House Counsel.
I have read vital reports and decrees that relate to the Nigeria
Customs Service and nowhere in the reports that have I read where such
power were conferred on the Comptroller General of the Customs as
contained in that circular. In every organization, there must be rules
and regulations. That is what we called Social Rule System Theory.
Social rule system theory is an attempt to formally approach different
kinds of social rule systems in a unified manner. Social rules systems
include institutions such as norms, laws, regulations, taboos,
customs, and a variety of related concepts and are important in the
social sciences and humanities. Social rule system theory is
fundamentally an institutionalist approach to the social sciences,
both in its placing primacy on institutions and in its use of sets of
rules to define concepts in social theory.
Social rule system theory notes that most human social activity is
organized and regulated by socially produced and reproduced systems of
rules. These rules have a tangible existence in societies – in
language, customs and codes of conduct, norms and laws, and in social
institutions such as family, community, market, business enterprises,
and government agencies. Thus, this theory posits that the making,
interpretation, and implementation of social rules are universal in
human society, as are their reformulation and transformation.
Rules and laws are commandments under which a society is governed.
Those rules must be adhered to at all times and in all manners. The
growth of any society depends on strict adherence to rules and
regulations.
*Teniola, a former Director at the Presidency stays in Lagos.

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