The decision of five Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs (DCGs) to turn in their letters of voluntary retirement from service on Thursday was part of an “ongoing reorganisation of the service”, the Nigeria Customs Service said Friday.
Twenty nine other senior officers also left the service.
The five officers who submitted their notifications of voluntary disengagement from service to the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, are John Atte, who was in charge of Finance, Administration & Technical Services; Adewuyi Akinade (Tariff & Trade); Austin Nwosu (Strategic Research & Policy); Musa Tafir (Enforcement, Investigation & Inspection) and Ibrahim Mera (Human Resource Development).
A statement from the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, signed by the spokesperson of the Service, Wale Adeniyi, acknowledged the acceptance of the resignations, alongside 29 other senior officials who were also retired from service.
The statement said the resignations and retirements were part of re-organization of the service.
“As part of on-going re-organization in Nigeria Customs Service, 34 Senior Officers have been retired from Service with immediate effect,” Mr. Adeniyi said in the statement on Friday.
“The re-organization of the Service is one of the core mandates of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd).
“Those affected in the exercise are five Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs (DCGs), who had earlier given notification to the Comptroller-General for voluntary disengagement. They are John Atte MFR, Ibrahim Mera OON, Musa Tahir mni, Austin Nwosu and Akinade Adewuyi.”
Three other officers of the rank of Assistant Comptroller-General were also affected.
They include the Secretary to the Nigeria Customs Board, Madu Mohammed; Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘A’, Victor Gbemudu, and Assistant Comptroller-General, (Headquarters), Bello Liman.
Twenty six other affected officers, whose names were not made available by Customs, were of the rank of Comptrollers serving in Customs Headquarters, Zonal Offices and various Area Commands as “part of measures to kick-start the re-positioning of the Service for improved performance”.
