News Investigators/ The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has charged its officers to adopt discipline and professional ethics in the discharge of their duties.
The Comptroller-General (C-G) of the NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, gave the charge during the decoration of newly appointed and promoted officers at its headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
Mr Adeniyi urged the personnel to be role models to their subordinates and provide guidance to enable the service to achieve its mandate of revenue generation, anti-smuggling operations and trade facilitation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the NCS on Dec. 20, announced the confirmation of the appointment of one Deputy Comptroller General (DCG) and seven Assistant Comptrollers General (ACGs) to the service’s management team by its board.
The board also approved the promotion of 4,291 senior officers and 1,419 junior officers across various ranks.
The C-G said that the promoted officers were expected to be strategic in fulfilling their obligations in the operations of the service.
“You have been called to higher level to serve, we will be expecting you to be strategic, because you will be involved in high level decision making and implementation of policies.
“This requires discipline, dedication and professionalism, and you must abide by the ethics of the job,” he said.
He said that the service would provide younger officers with the opportunity to learn from their superiors and apply their knowledge in the operations of the service to bridge the knowledge or generational gap.
According to the C-G, emphasis will be on the application of knowledge, which will also be a key factor in their promotion exercises.
“The service is knowledge-driven, and promotion will be on what you know not who you know,” he said.
He said that there would be no supplementary promotion list as speculated, but acknowledged that there might be glitches in the 2024 promotion process, which would be investigated and addressed appropriately.
He, however, said that personnel involved in examination malpractice during the 2024 promotion process would face consequences, adding that promotions were not influenced by sentiments of ethnicity or religion.
Responding on behalf of the decorated officers, DCG S. Ciroma assured the C-G of their loyalty and commitment to service.
He pledged that they would contribute positively to achieving the mandate of the NCS and uphold its integrity.
NAN