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Col Ali And 'ethnic Cleansing’ At Nigeria Customs by kingjoo: 10:39pm On Nov 29, 2015 |
RETIRED Col Hamid Ibrahim Ali, who took over as
Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service
(NCS) in a very controversial circumstance, is
progressing in error. The anomalies his policies are
perpetrating in the Nigeria Customs are unhealthy.
Col Ali was once a military administrator of Kaduna
State (August 1996 to August 1998). Since his
retirement, he has been politically active and fought
to return Muhammadu Buhari as President. He was
in charge of the President’s recent presidential
campaign funds and later became his Chief of Staff
before his appointment as head of the Nigeria
Customs. No doubt, he is the President’s confidant.
The criminologist and poultry farmer
was also the Secretary of Arewa
Consultative Forum (ACF) in which
capacity he represented the Arewa
Consultative Forum at the Oputa Panel
and was its presenter-in-chief when the
Ohanaeze Ndigbo made its case against
the Nigerian Civil War. Col. Ali’s
appointment as Comptroller-General of
Customs was greeted with controversy. It
was about the first time a non-career
officer is heading the Customs Service.
Of greater concern is his approach to
issues, which led to the mass resignation
of all the Deputy Comptrollers General
(DCGs) in one day. This, too, was as
unprecedented as it was controversial.
The appointments and promotions he
made following the said mass
resignation are controversial, prompting
many to ask if his mission to the
Customs Service is to see the South East
officers out of the Service; as the slots
traditionally reserved for the South East
zone were shared out to other zones – a
critical social injustice. There is
an exclusion and marginalisation of the
South East in the 2015 Nigeria Customs
Service appointments/promotions for the
management cadre. Unlike what
obtained in the past, each zone gets, on
the average, four slots for Assistant
Comptroller General (ACG) cadre and
one DCG. In the present promotions/
appointments, while the other five zones
in the country retained their number of
slots or got more, South East got nothing
save one DCG, whereas the zone got four
ACGs in the 2014 appointments/
promotions and something similar in the
previous ones. The distribution of the
2014 appointments/promotions reflected
the tradition and adherence to Federal
Character at Customs but now thrown
overboard.
The distribution in the Comptrollers’
cadre is pathetic, as the South East was
nearly completely left out also. North
West alone got 25 slots as against four by
the South East. Other zones also got
relatively the lion’s share compared to
the South East. Question is: on what
basis were these promotions done and
what is the justification for the bizarre
disparity between the other zones and
South East, to the point where a zone
would get 25 Comptrollers and South
East only four? For the avoidance of
doubt, here it is: SE 4, SS 11, SW 10, NC
18, NE 26 and NW 25.
Nigeria Customs Service is vital to
revenue generation in Nigeria. And in
this era where the revenue of the
country is fast dwindling, it is only
necessary that the service be allowed to
enjoy the requisite peace and
cooperation. A situation where one zone
is feeling that they are being deliberately
excluded from the management cadre
can only breed angst and frustration.
Injustice to one is an injustice to all.
Social justice has to be given its due
premium in Nigeria if the country will
gain the needed unity and make
progress at development. Social
psychological researches on work and
wellbeing of workers have clearly shown
that the surest way to destroying any
organisation is to have different sets of
rules/rewards for the different workers
in the same organisation. The
arbitrariness obtainable in the military
era hardly suffices in a democratic
dispensation. If the strange policy of
exclusion introduced in the Customs is
allowed to stand, Customs officers of
South East extraction are being told in
no uncertain terms that they cannot
aspire to certain ranks or become the
Comptroller General of that Service. This
is wrong.
The President needs to get the Customs
boss to respect and restore the rights of
the excluded South East zone and work
for greater harmony with the officers
and men of the Service, whose
confidence he needs in order to succeed.
President Muhammadu Buhari has
himself demonstrated great commitment
to rule of law and constitutionalism, and
against his wishes and beliefs, extended
cabinet ranks to all the 37 ministers.
Buhari, too, is a retired military officer
and could have insisted on having
ministers without portfolios and reap
the acrimony it would generate. Col. Ali
needs to emulate President Buhari. In
the realm of psychology, perception is
everything. The nation has to manage
the growing feeling of alienation both in
the North and South Nigeria. Deliberate
efforts must be made to address the
sources of such alienations and not
stoking them, as is now happening in the
Customs. And only inclusive policies can
promote amity and progress of Nigeria,
not exclusionism.
• Mefor is an Abuja-based forensic
psychologist and journalist Source: www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/11/ethnic-cleansing-at-nigeria-customs/ |
Re: Col Ali And 'ethnic Cleansing’ At Nigeria Customs by Mynd44: 10:42pm On Nov 29, 2015 |
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