Asset declaration: Customs officers to defy deadline

– Customs officers may flout 14 day directive given by customs boss

– Deadline expires on Friday, January 29

– Officers may face sack after deadline expires

The 14 day deadline given by the comptroller general of the Nigeria Customs Service to officers to declare their assets may be flouted by men of the service.

The two-week deadline given by Comptroller Hameed Ali to officers to declare their assets or risk sack expires on Friday, January 29.

Customs boss, Col Hamed Ali (rtd) has given all officers and men of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) 14 day ultimatum to declare their assets.

But investigations by The Sun reveals that although some officers have obtained their assets declaration forms, most of them were yet to fill and return them for submission.

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A source who spoke to the Sun said the decision by most of the officers not to declare their assets within the 14 day deadline stipulated by the comptroller general was allowed on the instruction page of the asset declaration form which specially permits every declarant 30 days within which to submit their forms.

According to the rule: “every declarant is required by law to declare his/her assets/liability including that of his spouse(s), who is not a public officer and children under 18 years age, honestly, sincerely and submit same to the bureau within 30 days of the receipt of the form.”

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The rule further states that: “The responsibility to collect, fill and return the form rests solely with the declarant; therefore, submission of completed forms by the declarant through his/her respective head of department does not, in any way, exonerate declarant from responsibility or liability.”

Meanwhile, panic has gripped some officers of the customs service over plans by the management to de-rank about 4000 officers from the ranks of assistant comptroller of Customs to the lowest cadre, over alleged indiscriminate allotment of ranks to themselves.

According to Vanguard, some of the affected officers have resorted to using their godfathers among other desperate measures to try and frustrate the de-ranking exercise.

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