I cannot help but feel that the many years of military rule have
left permanent scars on the cerebral cortexes of many Nigerians.
It appears to me that many Nigerians believe that one's ability to
wield 'Power-Authority' in the land depends a great deal on the acquisition of
khaki uniforms and firearms. No wonder
we oppress one another with boasts and the reality of who we know. One only needs to have a relative or friend in
the Military, Police Force, State Security Service, Customs Service, Immigration
Service, Prisons Service, Civil Defence Corp or even the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency to deal severely with offenders both real and imagined ones.
We have been told that Colonel Ali needs to wear a uniform in order
to carry out his duties as the Comptroller General (CG) of the Nigerian Customs
Service (NSC). This really baffles me simply because I do not understand the
correlation between appearing in a uniform and issuing directives to
subordinates. Will a lower ranked officer in the Army refuse a valid
instruction from a commanding officer who is about to have a swim across a
pool?
I have asked people to tell me what the terminology 'Comptroller '
means. I believe some Nigerians do not
actually understand the significance of this and hence cannot see beyond
military ranks which generally do not give us an insight of the job descriptions
of those concerned. An Army General for
example could be a medic, a tank or artillery commander or an army lawyer or
teacher. A comptroller on the other hand has a management duty to give account
of financial dealings.
The Nigerian customs service is responsible for a vast proportion
of Nigeria's income getting accurately remitted and its actions are supervised
by the Ministry of Finance. This is not exactly the same for every nation as
there may be modifications where necessary.
The United States of America for example created the Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) in 2003 from what had previously existed, the former Customs
agency was moved from the Department of Treasury and merged with certain
components of border control to form the current hybridized agency under the
Department of Homeland Security.
The American equivalent of the NCS has a Commissioner and Deputy
Commissioner as the two most senior officers in charge. These two have no insignia and don't wear
uniform. One of the past Commissioners was
a prosecutor and a high court judge at different times. His past military service and experience
dealing with drug related offences must have served him well when administering
the CBP. Another past Commissioner retired as a colonel of the US Marine Corp
and was a two time commissioner of police in New York. He was neither a career
police nor custom officer; he is a politician who has been active in his
nation's affairs for most of his adult life.
When such men and women are assessed, no one asks them what size of
uniform they wore during their tenure but how much revenue the nation earned
and how well they dealt with smuggling and protected the integrity of their
country.
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is the British equivalent. This organization after a reform done a few
years ago is now structured and overlaid with a cascade of civilian authority
made up of career civil servants before one is able to get to the most senior
of those officers required to wear uniforms.
The current Chief executive is a permanent secretary who was prior to
this a permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence. They have clerical, administrative and
secretarial staffs of the HMRC who don’t wear uniform yet they don't have any confusion
but get the job done.
The Nigerian Senate is one body part that clearly needs to be debrided
or completely excised. A lot of their talk appears to me like products of
intoxication. The other day, a certain
Dino Melaye was angry that the then acting President declined to sign some of
the bills sent to the presidency. He exclaimed that it was the duty of the
presidency to sign whatever was sent to them by the Senate. Now they pick out laws on customs' dress code
from one of the stars in Orion and order the Comptroller to dress up before
appearing before them instead of addressing the weighty matter of customs
duties on vehicles which somehow over the past few years evaded career customs
officers in uniform. The NCS has stepped down the controversial order so in
essence, the CG isn't obstructing or distracting anyone, it is the comedians in
the heme chamber wanting to see Colonel Ali in his pajamas who are causing all
the distraction.
The NCS ought to be made up of sound civil servants and those
specially trained to bear arms and partake in law enforcement like the police do. The uniform is not what transmits authority;
it’s the President who appointed the CG who gives him his authority. There are no beneficial transmittable spirits
or wisdom of past comptrollers on the uniform and there is no clear cut
directive on uniforms for non-career customs comptrollers as far as I
know. If there is such a document, it’s
probably not in the public domain.
The Nigerian Senate take great delight in playing to the gallery
and deflecting issues away from themselves.
Going on and on about not receiving the CG because he refused their
command is like refusing to collect money from someone who gives it out with
his or her left hand because culture
dictates otherwise. Should we not be more interested in asking Ali about how
much more revenue we are making as a nation now and how many weapons his
officers have intercepted?
There are those utilizing the media to extend this non-issue
calling Colonel Ali arrogant and stubborn.
Some Nigerians only see this event and that of Magu's rejection as an
opportunity to have a go at their political enemies; these individuals don't
reason beyond the 'APC-PDP' dichotomy and such cannot be helped. Some Nigerians want to keep importing
vehicles and grain without paying their custom duties accurately; some even
want outright waivers because they are religious mentors to those in
government. They simply don't mind the
country going under as long as business goes on fine for them.
It's high time we broke away from thinking all authority over
civilian matters lies in a uniform or in the barrel of a gun. If we are serious
about doing things differently then let's start now. There's a new political
party supposedly made up of young dynamic people and this party released a
document on some of their newly elected national officials. I read through the
list and observed that the state of origin of all those concerned were
included. This I believe was meant to
convince potential members of the wide geographical spread of the party but
that didn't impress me. Reading through
some of the comments on a Facebook post on this made the feeling even
worse. There were some commentators who
applauded the new development but they soon drew the attention of the fellow
who made the post that their states were not represented to which he responded
that it would be looked into.
What is now the difference between the old and the new? Are we also going to ask that every state
should get a minister if we somehow manage to oust the old guard like Isa
Hayatou was sent packing yesterday?
For those convinced the 8th Senate is on a righteous path, you must
think that Saraki et al care so much about you, right?
Go and clear your real brains at Seme border so you can start to really
think.
