By Bon Peters
The Nigeria Customs Service Area 11 Command, Onne, Rivers State, has feted its 104 newly promoted officers and men.
The event, which took place Wednesday at the command’s conference Hall, saw the Customs Area 11 management team, and other sister agencies, such as the Nigerian Navy, and NIMASA, among others in attendance.
In his welcome address, the Comptroller of the command, Mr Baba Imam, stated that the occasion was for the decoration of officers and men who were successful in the recent promotion exercise.
He noted that those who were not successful at the moment should continue to pray and trust in God that the next promotion exercise, which comes up in no distant time, might be their opportunity.
Admonishing those who were successful, Mr Imam insisted that promotion is never a right but a privilege, noting that “for those of you promoted, there will be more expectations from you by the service, the stakeholders and the public.
He pointed out that they were going to face more responsibilities and challenges, saying, “You are certainly going to face greater responsibilities and bigger challenges, but for you to confront the challenges in line with your duty, first of all, you must be guided by certain ethics and principles as tools, that will guide you carry your responsibilities.”
Speaking further, Mr Imam charged them to be “a role model of integrity, ensuring that every principle guiding the agency is strictly upheld,” adding that they should ensure they consult their colleagues as no man is an Island,
The newly promoted officers were enjoined to ensure trade facilitation by removing every bureaucratic bottleneck, obstacle and impediment that would mar their operations and ensure every obstacle associated with clearance procedures was eliminated as according to him, trade facilitation was the key.
While thanking the Comptroller General of Customs, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, and his management team for their policy thrust on human capital development, which, according to him, ensued in the promotion of the officers and men of the command, he, however, reminded them that they should always maintain a good working relationship with all the stakeholders and other sister agencies while performing their duties.
A breakdown of the newly promoted officers and men of the command showed that four Deputy Comptrollers of Customs were promoted to the rank of Comptrollers, eight Assistant Comptrollers were promoted to Deputy Comptrollers, and 24 Chief Superintendent of Customs were promoted to Assistant Comptrollers, among others.
Speaking on behalf of the newly promoted officers and men, CSC JN Ewere expressed his appreciation to God and others for “taking them to the next level,” pledging their unalloyed commitment and loyalty to the NCS.
