“Probe Retired Custom Boss, Hameed Ali,” Amiwero says

Hameed Ibrahim Ali

Following the retirement of Controller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, by President Tinubu on Monday, June 19, 2023, stakeholders have called for his probe in regards to the destruction of trade facilitation in the industry that he caused.

They claimed Ali enacted several anti-trade laws that complicated the country’s ability to conduct trade while driving investors and cargoes to its neighbors, costing the nation billions of dollars.

Lucky Amiwero, a former member of the Ministerial Committee on Fiscal Policy and Import Clearance Procedure and the Presidential Committee on Destination Inspection, while speaking in an interview with The Guardian said Ali’s dismissal is for the benefit of the maritime industry and the economy.

“Tinubu should probe Ali’s activities in the Nigeria Customs Service because, during his time, a lot of things went wrong. He destroyed the maritime system. Customs is not a military service, it is a procedural service that has a linkage with the World Customs Organisation (WCO).

“Ali doesn’t know anything about Customs operations and he came to reform Customs by destroying the entire system. There is a need for the reorganization of customs and probing his activities for the number of years he spent in the service.”

On the other hand, the National Public Relations Officer of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN), Taiwo Fatomilola, said removing Ali was the best thing to happen to the economy of Nigeria.

“Removing Ali is the best thing in Nigeria because he has been a curse to the economy and trade facilitation. He doesn’t have a single understanding of how customs operate, he is just a political appointee of the former president Muhammadu Buhari.

“When he was there, he allowed the embattled former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele to determine what happens in the Customs, which shouldn’t be so. I mean, imagine Emefiele saying the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) is an advisory note.”