Customs Boss Urges Officers to Upgrade
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retired), says the promotion of officers will henceforth be tied to completion of a training course to meet international best practice.
According to Ali, the training course will be in the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada.
He said this at the graduation of 50 students of Senior Course 6, Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College in Abuja on Friday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the staff college was inaugurated in 2011, to prepare middle-level management officers for higher responsibilities.
He said that the directive became necessary following the need for the service to upgrade it’s human capacity to meet international best practice.
“Henceforth, the promotion of officers will be tied to attending this course of study, any officer that fails to attend this course will find it difficult to be promoted.”
The comptroller-general said that it was imperative for officers to upgrade their skills to fit into the numerous changes going on in the service.
He commended the graduands for successful graduation, saying, “we believe this will culminate in the modernisation of the service.”
Ali urged the graduands to go a step further by being outstanding on the field. On reforming the service, Ali said a concession was recently signed on its modernisation programme to ensure a fully activated E-customs service
“With all that is being put in place in the service, hopefully in the next three years, every activity will be paperless.
“This is a wake up call for officers who are not computer literate to take up courses to upgrade their knowledge of Information and Communication Technology.
“The service will give officers opportunity to upgrade,” he said. the
Ali, however, commended the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who is also the Chairman, Board of Customs for her support in repositioning the service.
He also commended the management for the workable policies being put in place to upgrade the service.
The minister, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the event said it was evident that the customs service prioritises human capital development, which was a major development index.
“The comptroller-general’s holistic approach to capacity building and upward progression of officers speaks well of his commitment to an effective customs service.,” she said.
The minister, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Aliyu Ahmed, said the course highlight showed that it was rigorous and an engaging period of study.
She urged participants to showcase the knowledge acquired, adding “your contributions toward the service begins right now.”
Ahmed also called on the college to rejig its curriculum to remain relevant in carrying out its mandate.
On the economy, the minister said that more needed to be done to grow the nonoil sector, while making export more competitive in the international market.