THE MOST POWERFUL CUSTOMS’BOSS Eric Teniola
The growth of any society depends on strict adherence to rules, writes
Of all the chief executives of the Nigerian Customs Service to date, none has been more powerful than Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Alli (rtd.), the 64- year- old 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 Cross River 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 when General Abacha died. On August 27, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, appointed Colonel 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 Col. 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 ComptrollerGeneral) for Comptroller-General of Customs, titled “Suspension of petroleum products supply to filling stations within 20 kilometres to all borders”. It read,
“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 20 kilometres to the border. 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 the other. 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 acceptable 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 Buhari 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 Alli to execute, 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.
A pronouncement in the circular that Col. 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 NNPC is the oil corporation through which the federal government 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 where the comptroller general of customs will execute the directive in that circular. I am equally not undermining the success of Col Alli since he became the comptrollergeneral of Customs. For example, the Nigeria Customs Service 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.