Get rid of corrupt officers - Buhari tells new Custom Comptroller General

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the new Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Col. Hamid Ali (retd.) to rid the service of corrupt officers.

General Buhari

The PUNCH learnt on Sunday that as part of measures to carry out Buhari’s directive, the CG of Customs had demanded files of top officers of the service.

Investigations showed that the President specifically posted Ali to the NCS because of its poor image on corruption.

It was gathered that Buhari took his anti-graft war to the Customs also because of the dwindling revenues from oil which is the country’s major source of income.

A top officer of the Presidency, who confided in The PUNCH, noted that Customs ranked among the most corrupt government agencies in the country.

A survey by the CLEEN Foundation in collaboration with the McArthur Foundation had in 2013 ranked Customs among corrupt Federal Government agencies.

Other corrupt agencies mentioned in the survey included the Police, Nigeria Immigration Service and the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

It was also gathered that Buhari reasoned that for the government to meet its obligations amid short-fall in its revenues, there should be transparency in revenue generating agencies.

The Presidency official, who spoke with The PUNCH, identified the fact that the Federal Government had not met its revenue target in 2015.

For instance, a look at the 2015 budget shows that the government is targeting gross federally collectible revenue of N9.78tn to be shared by the three tiers of government.

The figure, when spread over a 12-month period when the amount is to be generated, translates into monthly revenue of N815bn or N2.44tn per quarter.

But figures obtained from the Federal Ministry of Finance showed that between January and May this year, the country was only able to generate the sum of N1.74tn as gross revenue.

When the actual N1.74tn revenue is compared to the budgeted target of N4.07tn that should have been earned within the five-month period, it translates into a revenue shortfall of 42.5 per cent or N2.3tn.

A breakdown of the actual revenue revealed that the sum of N416.04bn was generated in January, N401.46bn in February while the months of March, April and May had N315.04bn, N282.06bn and N324.96bn respectively.

It was gathered that a mass purge was imminent in the Customs as part of efforts to carry out the President’s directive.

Investigations showed that fear had gripped men and officers of the service, who had been feeding fat on government revenues.

The PUNCH reliably gathered on Friday that the new Comptroller-General had started scrutinising files of top officers of the service and petitions written against some employees.

Investigations revealed that any Customs officers with queries pertaining to proven cases of corruption in his file would be shown the way out.

It was learnt that Ali, in implementing this mandate, was determined to shore up revenues accruable to the Federal Government.

Investigations showed that the new Customs boss would also work on petitions written by members of the public against some officers.

Some of the petitions, it was gathered, dealt with illegal sales of seized goods by officers of the service.

A top officer of the NCS, who confided in The PUNCH, said that there had been complaints about illegal sales of contrabands.

He said that money accruable from sales of goods went to private pockets, adding that they were not gazetted before being sold.

“There are petitions bordering on corruption. The new helmsman has asked for files of all officers. Reorganisation is inevitable in the NIS and those who are corrupt would be shown the way out,” he stated.

It was also gathered that the new comptroller general would look into violations of rules and regulations on clearance of goods as well as false declarations and misapplication of tariffs.

When contacted, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said that crux of Buhari’s anti-corruption war was that anybody that corruptly enriched himself would be prosecuted.

When asked to explain Buhari’s directives to Ali on corruption, he said, “I will answer your question with a question: should we allow a corrupt officer to continue staying in the system?

“The crux of President Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign is that anyone found to have corruptly enriched himself should be dealt with according to the rules, and the individual must face prosecution. The campaign is only meaningful if officials indicted for corruption are made to face trial.”

Get rid of corrupt officers - Buhari tells new Custom Comptroller General

Buhari’s appointments unacceptable to Ndigbo – Ohaneze Youth Council

By Vincent Ujumadu

Awka – THE Ohaneze Youth Council, OYC, Friday, expressed deep anger over President Muhammadu Buhari’s latest appointment for the positions of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, the Chief of Staff to the President and others.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo

President of the of the OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, in a statement he jointly signed with the group’s Public Relations Officer, Hon. Obinna Adibe, said the appointments were totally unacceptable to Ndigbo, arguing that they violated the principle of federal character as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.

President Buhari announced the appointment of Engr. Babachir David Lawal from Adamawa State as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; as well as Alhaji Abba Kyari for the position of Chief of Staff to the President.

Others appointed included Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd.)- Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service; Mr. Kure Martin Abeshi – Comptroller-General, Nigerian Immigration Service; Senator Ita S.J. Enang – SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) and Hon. Suleiman A. Kawu -SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives)

According to the Ohaneze Youth Council, the President had demonstrated his deep hatred for Ndigbo, even after he had said he belonged to nobody but belonged to everybody

.

The statement read: “We stand to condemn this glaring hatred for Ndigbo by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. We recall that apart from several other appointments, Buhari’s government has also appointed Service Chiefs and in a similar manner, he sidelined the South-East zone.

“As if that was not enough, the long-awaited position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, has come at last and this government deemed nobody from the South-East qualified enough to occupy that position, which was earlier zoned to Ndigbo.

“We are indeed shocked by this turn of events, which are totally at variance with Mr. President’s earlier stand that he was for nobody but that he was for everybody. We are at a loss where this statement fits in, considering all the actions he has taken so far, which are all against the interest of Ndigbo.

“Where is the justice; where is the equity; where is the one Nigeria? How long shall Ndigbo be pushed to the walls?

“The Ohaneze Youth Council is saying it loud and clear that these appointments are unacceptable to us and we urge Mr. President to reverse them, otherwise it would appear that there is a grand-design to annihilate the Igbos out of the political and economic system in this country.”

The statement further stated that apart from the neglect Ndigbo had suffered in the area of appointments, it was also curious that the Buhari-led government had suspended work on the second Niger Bridge, adding that “all these are pointers to the fact that we are becoming endangered species in Nigeria.”

It added: “The Second Niger Bridge is a project that touches on the economic life of the entire South-East and we find it curious that the Federal Government is not ready to attach any priority to it.

“We use this medium to urge Mr. President to right these wrongs and move the country forward as one. Tribalism has never paid Nigeria and this period will not make any difference”.

 

Buhari’s appointments unacceptable to Ndigbo – Ohaneze Youth Council

Stop Party Drift Now - Bisi Akande tells Buhari

A former interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Bisi Akande, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC governors to halt the party’s drift.

Chief Bisi Akande

Akande, in a statement, on Sunday, warned that the ongoing crisis afflicting the party was capable of jeopardising the chances of the APC in 2019.

He said, “Now that the whole conspiracy has blown open, it is doubtful if the present institutions of party leadership can muster the required capacity to arrest the drift.

“It is my opinion that President Buhari, and the APC governors should now see the APC as a rocking platform that may not be strong enough again to carry them to political victory in 2019 and they should quickly begin a joint damage control effort to reconstruct the party in its claim to bring about the promised change before the party’s shortcomings begin to aggravate the challenges of governance in their hands.”

Condemning the crisis rocking the country’s National Assembly, Akande alleged that “numerous among those calling themselves businessmen in Nigeria are like leeches sucking from the nation’s blood largely through various governments and particularly through the Nigerian Federal Government.

“While all these schisms were going on in the APC, those who were jittery of Buhari’s constant threat of anti-corruption’s battle began to encourage and finance rebellions against the APC democratic positions which led to the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as the candidate of the PDP tendencies inside and outside the APC.”

The Ila-Orangun-born political chieftain recalled that, “With the air of oneness, APC went ahead to conduct primaries to select candidates for state governors and Houses of Assembly and for the Presidency and the National Assembly.

“After the elections which saw APC to victory all round, a meeting was reported to have been held by certain old new-PDP leaders in a Peoples Democratic Party (chieftain’s house) in Abuja to review what should be their share in this new Buhari’s government and resolved to seek collaboration with the PDP with a view to hijacking the National Assembly and, having got rid of Goodluck Jonathan, with an ultimate aim of resuscitating the PDP as their future political platform.”

The statement read in part, “Unknown to most APC members, while Senator Bukola Saraki was being adopted as the candidate for Senate President by certain old new-PDP tendencies, the theory was being propagated that, like in most presidential democracy, the APC minority leaders in the old National Assembly (i.e George Akume for the Senate and Femi Gbajabiamila for the House of Representatives) should automatically become Senate President and Speaker respectively now that the APC has the majority.

“Certain leaders felt that most past Senate Presidents had come from Benue State which Akume represented and that Benue State should be made to assume the traditional home of all senate presidents. At the same time, certain senators were clamouring for one of the most ranking senators anywhere outside the North-west zone that produced the President. That was how Ahmed Lawan who had been in the House of Representatives for eight years and in the Senate for another eight years emerged as the candidate for the senate president.”

Stop Party Drift Now - Bisi Akande tells Buhari