“It is, however, sad that the president would be exercising his prerogative powers as president of the Federal Republic and some elements in the land would cry fowl unnecessarily. Does it matter if he replaced Peterside, a South Southerner with a person from any other clime? What should matter to every national development agent should be scrutiny about, “whether the new DG NIMASA is fit for the job for the good of Nigeria””
Recently, following expiration of the tenure of Mr. Dakuku Peterside in office as Director-General of NIMASA, President Muhammad Buhari moved swiftly to do the needful. He has the prerogative, like he did to the service chiefs, to ask Peterside to continue just as he is at liberty to make appointments. That he did with the appointment of Bashir Jamoh as the new DG NIMASA.
It is, however, sad that the president would be exercising his prerogative powers as president of the Federal Republic and some elements in the land would cry fowl unnecessarily. Does it matter if he replaced Peterside, a South Southerner with a person from any other clime? What should matter to every national development agent should be scrutiny about, “whether the new DG NIMASA is fit for the job for the good of Nigeria” and if the answer is in the affirmative, why not? That is where the experts who hail the new appointment stand.
However, to whom much is given, much is expected. Patriotic Nigerians, who went out of their way in their number going to over 15 million to say “with Buhari we stand 2015-2023”, are now saying that Mr. President should not relax until he has completed the good work he has started in NIMASA in the other agencies particularlly the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) by also giving a new replacement who will not only continue from where Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) will stop but also improve on his achievements so far as Ali’s tenure has already expired.
Most of these patriotic supporters of Buhari are saying that there are competent career Customs officers both retired and serving that are capable of taking over from Col. Hameed Ali (rtd). It leaves a bad taste in the mouth to give the public the impression that in the entire nation there is no single one Customs officer with integrity and competence from the pool of both serving and retired that can be trusted to man the Nigeria Customs Service effectively.
The President will do well to have a second thought to look thoroughly into the records and locate a competent career Customs officer for appointment in his efforts to save Nigeria from the quagmire of dangerous smuggling activities that for many years, until recent years, crippled the economy and fostered insecurity.
One of them who spoke with The Defender said: “I specifically know that some trusted competent career officers were vetted in the past. President Buhari will do well to make a change to put a round peg in a round hole for the continuous good of our nation.
