Monday 31 August 2015
Checkout The Police Officer who manufactures Bullet Proof Jackets locally
Checkout The Reason Why Buhari Chose An Outsider As Customs Boss
Checkout The Reason Why Buhari Chose An Outsider As Customs Boss
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| Chief J. Oyegun |
Fresh facts have emerged as to why President Muahmmadu Buhari appointed a
non-Customs officer as the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs
Service (NCS), even as divergent views have greeted the move.
While some applaud the appointment of Hameed Ali, a retired Army
Colonel, to head the Customs, others describe it as a jaundiced move
that may have scathing repercussion on the service.
Daily Sun learnt senior Customs officer within the ranks of Assistant
Comptroller General (ACG) and Deputy Comptroller General (DCG), who were
beneficiaries of the old order, heavily lobbied influential politicians
to persuade the President to appoint them as the next Customs boss.
The President was said to have been saddened by the high number of
lobbyists, making a case for one officer or the other, a development
that exposes the under-belly corruption in the sensitive establishment.
President Buhari, who feels appointing any of the desperate officers,
may just be a continuation of the Dikko era, jolted them by picking a
man out of the blue.
Industry sources say a flurry of petitions against Dikko had flooded the
Presidency and having any of his DCGs or ACGs may scuttle the impending
restructuring exercise at the establishment.
A Comptroller of Customs who confided in Daily Sun said
“if you see the amount of money spent on influential politicians, you’ll know that if any of those desperate officers was picked as CGC, it will be looting galore because they must recoup their expenses or investment of you like to put it that way. But the President got high intelligence about the huge money changing hands and knew there was an ulterior motive behind it. Why spend so much money lobbying if you know your motive is to serve your country? So, he kept his plans close to his chest and shunned all the names given to him by his friends and chose a totally different man. Now, the man is expected to face his job and do it without caring on whose ox is gored. He has no one to please except the government. We won’t hear of CG’s boys, CG’s men and other anointed officers. If you do your job well, you don’t have anything to fear. I like what Buhari did”, he said.However, some industry analysts do not share the Comptroller’s view as they see the appointment of an old retired Colonel as a retrogressive strategy.
Cross River Governor, Ben Ayade Trapped On Calabar-Ikom Road. See What Happened (Photo)
Cross River Governor, Ben Ayade Trapped On Calabar-Ikom Road. See What Happened (Photo)
Our Source, Southern City News gathered on Sunday that among those stranded was the State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, who was on his way to his hometown, Obudu, for a thanksgiving service.
It was learnt that after attempts to clear the way failed, the governor and his entourage, had to make a detour through another route to get to his destination.
No fewer than 20 trailers and 60 other vehicles were trapped in the ensuing gridlock as they could not leave the vicinity until the road was cleared in the early hours of Sunday.
A stranded commuter, Benjamin Uche, described the bad state of the road as an apology to a state that prides itself as a tourist destination.
Uche said despite an allegation that the trailer driver did not observe caution when passing through the bad spot, the road had become a threat to road users.
“We got to this spot as early as 8am on Saturday and blocked the only good portion of the road. We became stranded as more vehicles and trailers came. The scene became rowdy when the governor and his entourage also joined us for a while.
“The security men tried to clear the way but it was obvious that they could not. They had to reverse to take another route. I do not know where they took but it was obvious they knew it was not a security matter.
“This road had remained like this in the last eight years. They will only just patch some portions during the dry season and when the rain comes it goes back to this bad state.
“The government is aware of the deplorable state of this federal road and nothing is being done to rebuild the road that was constructed nearly 40 years ago. It is a disgrace to Cross River State because we are known to pride ourselves as tourist destination. Is bad road part of what tourism is all about? Cross River State should answer that question for us,” he said.It took the intervention of the Itigidi Unit of the Federal Road Safety Corps, following an order from the State Sector Commander, Mr. Ikechukwu Igwe, to clear the road, 18 hours after.
Confirming the development, Igwe told Southern City News the intervention of his men saved the situation, even as he lamented that the trailer that blocked the road was not road worthy as the tyres were incomplete.
Igwe urged motorists to be patient when they get to bad spots on the road, hinting that the trailer driver was probably impatient when he got to the bad spot.
“Road users should please, exercise patience when they get to bad spots. They should equally ensure that their vehicles are roadworthy before they pass through this type of road. The road got blocked completely because of the impatience of other road users.
“That was why vehicles got stranded and the road became impassable. This thing happened on Friday night and the road was eventually cleared on Sunday morning. I had to come from Calabar to ensure that the road was cleared,” Igwe said
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