THE supremacy battle between the Minister of
Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and the Comptroller
General of the Nigerian Customs Service, retired
Colonel Hameed Ali, is taking unexpected
dimension as the Presidency takes side with the
Customs boss against the minister.
Sources in the Customs Service and the
Presidency revealed to National Daily that the
job of Adeosun, the finance minister, hangs in
the balance because of the close affinity the
Customs boss has with President Muhammadu
Buhari.

Accordingly, the Customs CG and Finance
Minister supremacy row may lead to Adeosun
lose her position as Chairman of the Nigeria
Customs Service board, our source disclosed.
According to him, the federal government plan to
restructure the board is just an icing on the
cake. The main reason is to put to rest the
supremacy battle between the Ali and Adeosun
The friction began during the screening of the
Ministry of Finance budget before the Joint
committee of the House. And Hameed Ali, an ally
of Buhari, had called the bluff of the finance
minister by telling her he reports only to the
president.


And, really, the CGC has been a law unto himself
since Buhari appointed him to head the Customs
last year. Ali has been promoting, demoting, and
dismissing men and officers of the agency
without getting a nod from Adeosun. The board
has yet to meet either since he took over from
ex-CGC Abdulahi Dikko.
Meanwhile, this impasse is coming at a time the
president is yet to overcome the trauma of the
2016 budget padding which caused serious
embarrassment for his administration. The
finance minister is among the members of the
Federal Executive Council being blamed for the
budget controversy and for whom the president
is believed to have commenced search for their
replacement.
By the provisions of the CEMA Act, the NCS as
one of about 600 government agencies comes
under the supervision of the finance minister
who doubles as the chairman of the NCS board.
And based on that, Ali is answerable to Adeosun.
But, as the restructuring takes effect, the odds
are still in favour of the customs boss. The
finance minister will have her power whittled
down; a competent source told this newspaper.
“It will remove the minister as chairman of the
Governing Board of the service, contrary to the
provisions of the CEMA, which is the enabling
legislation for the service,” the source said.
President Buhari might be sacrificing legality on
the altar of expediency now. And he’s got
reasons. The NCS is one of Nigeria’s top money-
spinners. Between January and October last
years, the service raked in N904billion, falling
shy of the N944 billion target the federal
government gave it. Between 2011 and August
2014, the service generated N3.1 trillion in
revenues from import and export.
In the same vein, the Customs is among the
most corrupt and porous of government
agencies. Industry watchers believe that was the
reason Buhari brought in Ali, who believes there
are some bad eggs within, to head the agency.
And the CGC boss has since been carrying on
like reformist.
“The minimum jail term for corrupt officers is
five years, but I will make sure that any officer
found to be corrupt gets the maximum jail term
of 10 years,” he said when he came in last year.
And he seems to be getting all the support he
needs from Aso Rock. Under the new
dispensation, the current CG, who is not a
serving Customs officer, will now report and take
orders directly from President Buhari, a process
which also contravenes the provisions of the
CEMA


It was, however, not clear as at the time of filing
this report who would head the customs board
since the powers of the minister to that effect
has been withdrawn.
This development might create a vacuum in the
scheme of things as well as causing some
distortions in import and export trade
administration in the country.
Stakeholders have however argued that apart
from the distortions that would trail this current
restructuring would cause to the system, it
would also destroy the structure of the service
itself, since authority flows from the Minister
through the board to the management headed by
the CG.
“It is enough that the president forced an army
officer retired more than 20 years ago on a
professional organisation like the nation’s
customs administration in the name of fighting
corruption,” a stakeholder said.
“But to move towards making the CG report
directly to the president would distort so many
things in the international trade administration in
Nigeria.”
According to him, apart from being illegal, the
current move would lay a very bad precedence in
the system where the CG of the service would
report directly to the president of the country,
which he insisted was an aberration.
He also wondered that situations arise
sometimes when the minister and the CG of
Customs need to take decisions on import and
export policies, a role that be played by the
president would play now, especially given his
tight schedule.
Many, however, insisted that whatever the
president would do in the light of the proposed
restructuring would remain in the realm of
illegality. Otherwise, he needs to amend relevant
sections of the CEMA, which spell out duties and
functions of the minister as the chairman of the
board and the CG, who is the Chief Executive
officer of the service.


https://nationaldailyng.com/2015/10966-2/

Crap!

Battle for supremacy indeed, Tunubu must hear this!

Duplicated post

Before nko? She get mouth where abokis dey

Any action/decision that would be beneficial to the country and ordinary citizens is a welcome development.