The Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Mr Adewale Bashir Adeniyi on behalf of his officers and men celebrated his former boss and predecessor, Dr Bello Haliru Mohammed, OFR, who turned 80, describing him as the leader who laid the foundation that turned around the fortunes of the over century-old service.
A press release by Mohammed’s media office in Abuja quoted Comptroller-General Adeniyi as expressing gladness that the octogenarian had lived to witness the bountiful fruits of seeds which he sowed between 1988 and 1993 when he led the nation’s foremost revenue-generating and anti-smuggling agency.
CG Adeniyi is currently Nigeria’s first elected chairman of the Brussels-based Customs Cooperation Council (CCC), a global body where Mohammed emerged in 1992 as Nigeria’s first Deputy Chairman and Head of West and Central Africa Regional Group of CCC, south of the Sahara.
In his congratulatory message, Adeniyi described Mohammed’s tenure as a great legacy. “The service was lifted into the league of best-rated performing government agencies and widely respected as a high profile revenue-collecting and security organisation contributing immensely to growth and development of the nation.
‘’He served as Comptroller-General from 1988 to 1993. Dr. Mohammed’s visionary leadership and commitment to excellence laid a foundation that continues to shape the Service today. We honour your legacy, and enduring contributions to national development. Happy 80th birthday sir.”
The press release further said that the octogenarian entered the public service in 1977 at age 32 as a two-time commissioner in the old Sokoto State, rising later into national prominence as Director of the then Department of Customs and Excise (1990-92) and the Comptroller- General, Nigeria Customs Service (1992-95).
Essentially, his five-year tenure transformed and enhanced the fortunes of the service especially during the Civil Service Reforms of former military President Ibrahim Babangida’s administration which appointed him over a former deputy director of customs and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar.
Mohammed, a trained veterinary doctor at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, initiated and successfully executed the process that formally changed the Nigerian Customs Service from a department to a full-fledged para-military service that raised the job benefits for the officers and men.
The Customs and Excise Management Act was enacted to ease its operations thereby lifting the organization to the present ranking status of the Police, Army, Navy and Air Force. Other para-military services such as Immigration and Prisons (now Correctional Service) followed suit.
He was removed in 1993 by late Head of State, General Sani Abacha in over phantom charges which could not be proved in two years. He was finally retired.