Business
Civil Service Reforms: Customs Sacks 30 Comptrollers
This year may have started on a gloomy note for 30 Comptrollers of Customs and their dependants as the Customs Board has confirmed their retirement from service.
According to competent sources at Customs headquarters, Abuja, the Federal Civil Service Commission has published names of 32 Comptrollers of Customs alongside 51 directors from various Federal Ministries.
Details of the lists sighted by our correspondent revealed that the federal civil service commission cited redundancy and stagnation in one rank for ten years and above as the reason why the officers must quit the service.
Ordinarily, the public service rule prescribes three years as the maturity period for officers to earn their promotion to the next grade level, between GL 08 and GL 14, while the maturity period to move between GL 14 and GL 17 is four years, our source revealed.
“If following simple logic, therefore, an officer entering the civil service with a first degree would require a minimum of 27years to attain the post of a director, “he said.
This invocation of the civil service rules, according to our source, was all that is needed to send these comptrollers back to their homes.
However, reports indicate that two comptrollers (names withheld) who hitherto fell among the retirees have been promoted to Assistant Comptrollers – General of Customs leaving 30 others, unlike 2004, were 75 comptrollers were sacked in what is today known as the Customs coup of 2004.
Some senior Customs officers who do not want their names in print perceive this as an ethnic cleansing. According to them, the premature sack of comptrollers is a plot to do away with a crop of officers who are seen as power mongers and aggrieved due to the maltreatment the service has meted to them.
An assistant comptroller who led the array of critics against the sack said, “it is a deliberate plot by the present Comptroller – General of Customs to sack because he is afraid of these officers some of whom have attained the rank of comptroller while he (Dikko) was still a Chief Superintendent of Customs (CSC).
While some of the critics accused the president of demystifying the strength of the North in the scheme of allocation of officers in the major parastatals, one of the affected retirees told our correspondent on phone that the present C.G., Alhaji Dikko plotted the coup to retire them in order to pave way for young and dynamic officers whom he will be able to control and manage without confrontation and insubordination having learned from the previous administration.
The Tide finding can authoritatively reveal that a look at the date of first appointment of the affected comptrollers shows that they joined the service in 1982 while the list of ages of the affected officers stand at 49,50,52 as provided by records sighted by our correspondent.
According to an inside source, there is a serious trouble brewing in the service due to this sack saga, adding that before the final ratification by the Customs board, the said officers had been lobbying to be posted to juicy commands to make something before their retirement but for those who don’t have political fathers or emirs and obas, they were left either in redundancy at the Customs headquarters or posted to unviable commands.
But on the sack of the 30 comptrollers, a maritime analysts Chief Chibuzor Ebere, noted that changes are usually meant for good, but when the changes come as a result of what could be avoided in the name of crisis, then the reason for the change is not genuine.
“It becomes more painful when these fellows are still very young (in their 50s) and below, very healthy and active. It means that over time you lose very useful materials in the name of changes,” Chief Ebere said.
He further remarked that what maritime experts want is modernization for efficiency, reinforcing the manpower by giving them more training to cope with the global changes in the maritime industry and not throwing the effective manpower.
A source confided in our correspondent that the 30 affected and aggrieved comptrollers may join the 75 comptrollers retired in 2004 and over15 ACGs and DCGs to challenge their premature sack in a law court and shore up support for their determination for re-instatement.
Business
Food Vendors, Others Relocate To New Site At PH Airport
The raging controversy between the Port Harcourt International Airport Management and restaurants/canteen operators and theirallies over relocation has been brought under control, as the operators have commenced relocation to their structures at the new site.
Recall that there had been serious feud over a directive by the Manager of the airport, Mr. Michael Area, for food vendors and their allies to relocate to the new site.
They insisted that the new site was too distant and hence, would negatively affect patronage from customers, with possible loss.
They further also insisted that it wouldcost them much money to put up another structure, given the economic situation in the country, since the airport management did not build any structure for them, apart from providing the empty land they have to also pay for.
The situation had led to flexing of muscles, which made the Airport Manager to order for sealing of all shops, resulting in scarcity of food, as airport users could not find a place to eat, apart from the only Genesis fast food spot available.
As at last Friday, The Tide observed that most of the food vendors had transferred their structures to the new place, and had started doing business there already.
Meanwhile, customers have started settling down at the new location as they were seen patronising shops for foods and drinks, in spite of the distance.
Few of the remaining structures at the old site, The Tide further gathered, will also be removed as quickly as possible, and the owners are making efforts to get funds for the job to be done.
One of them, Mrs Aka Love explained that she was going to relocate to the new place before the end of March.
Currently, business activities at the old site have come to null, as the place which was usually a beehive of food, drinks and relaxation, has completely winded down.
By: Corlins Walter
Business
MOWCA Strengthens Maritime Crime Prevention
Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu, has stepped up interaction with the United States Government to lift restrictions placed on some member countries allegedly implicated in illicit shipping activities.
Adalikwu, who led a delegation from the MOWCA Secretariat to the US Embassy in Abidjan for a first leg of the strategic consultation aimed at promoting seamless participation of MOWCA countries in international trade within the global maritime space, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to the best ethical and lawful maritime practices.
Addressing the U.S Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire, H.E Mrs Jessica Davis Ba, the MOWCA SG stated the organisation’s interest in promoting the International Ship and Port facility Security (ISPS) code which aims at enhancing security of vessels and their ports of call.
He expressed the commitment of MOWCA in promoting environmentally friendly, safe and cost effective shipping without any encumbrance that may limit the economic potential of member countries.
Dr Adalikwu recalled that at the instance of the U.S. Department of State invitation, MOWCA participated in the 2023 Registry Information Sharing Compact (RISC) Conference in Larnaca, Cyprus, on February 28–March 1, 2023, and a virtual meeting held on June 6 2023, with Mrs Jennifer Chalmers, Officer in change of Counterproliferation Initiative.
He recalled The U.S. DOS willingness to support MOWCA’s effort for preventive maritime security through the establishment of the Center for Information and Communication (CINFOCOM) with the aim to ensure a maritime situational awareness domain within MOWCA’s member states’ waters.
He added that MOWCA under his watch is committed to training and retraining of maritime practitioners and experts to enhance the human capital capabilities of member states.
The CINFOCOM will help prevent transnational crimes committed at sea like sanctions evasion by North Korea and other state actors, who exploit poor enforcement due diligence by ship open registries to circumvent United Nations and U.S. trade restrictions.
By: Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos
Business
Nigeria’s Public Debt Hits N97.3trn – DMO
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has hinted that Nigeria’s public debt increased by 10.7 per cent from N87.87 trillion in the third quarter of last year, to N97.34 trillion as at December 31, 2023.
DMO, in an update data released last Friday, said the increase in the debt stock was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the Federal Government to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
The office noted that the N97.3 trillion public debt comprises of domestic debt of N59.12 trillion and external debt of N38.22 trillion. The sum of $3.5 billion was used to service external debt during the review period.
“Nigeria’s Public Debt Stock as at December 31, 2023 was N97.34trillion or $108.229 billion. This amount comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 States Governments, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“There was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for September, 2023, which was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the FGN to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
“At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61 percent of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39 percent.
“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77 percent) and bilateral lenders (14.02 percent) or total of 63.79 percent which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional.
“Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practice in public debt management, the recent and on-going efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability”, DMO stated.
By: Corlins Walter
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