Customs officers employed between 1989 and 1994 have cried out to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Services about the Discriminatory promotional exercise in the services.
According to them, those who engaged in the services between 1989 and 1994 have been at a standstill, without any promotion, while the newly promoted ones have enjoyed accelerated promotions.
According to a document obtained from their lawyer, it read “We humbly request to consider redressing the injustice meted out to older officers’ sequel to directives communicated vide the letter NCSB/ABJ/AP&D/94/S.I/VOLV/19 dated 29 March 2022. This is connected with the implemented discriminatory special promotions given with backdated notional effects to newer officers recruited as graduates starting from 2009. These special promotions were reportedly approved by the Nigeria Customs Service Board (NCSB) consequent to Management’s presentation of the recommendations of its Generation Gap Committee.”
Further, they alleged that the management of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) recently announced its Board’s approval of a proposal to institute yet another special promotion scheme designated competency-based accelerated career progression plan (CBACP). This was made public by its National Public Relations Officer (PRO) Abdullahi Maiwada, a Chief Superintendent of customs in a press release reference NCS/PR/SP/S.582/003/23/VOL. 1 OF 19th May 2023. The same PRO was quoted in an online punch Newspaper report of 2 June 2023, by Anozie Egole to have said that the NCS Board had approved the plan to close the Generation Gap that could lead to a vacuum in the NCS higher hierarchies if not addressed. Find attached the Press Release of 19th May, 2023 with the approved memo on CBACP.
Consequently, they alleged that the customs service is now faced with the problem of coping with the passive resistance to teamwork created by a class conflict between the segregated customs officers and the favoured customs officers.
They appealed that they were either upgraded or laterally converted into the officer corps based on the competency-based accelerated career progression plan (CBACP) no matter how subtly communicated for image laundering by the PRO, are considered unfounded, discriminatory, extra-legal and repugnant to equity, good order and natural justice. For a regimented service like the NCS sudden loss of seniority by an entire generation of older officers to their juniors is absurd.
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