The conference hall of the Tin Can Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service was packed to the rafters as officers, relatives, friends and journalists were in attendance to witness the decoration of officers who were promoted at the Command.
The busy occassion had officers from the deputy comptrollers rank and through the lower ranks being decorated by the Customs Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Frank Okechukwu Onyeka and assisted by Comptroller Joseph Anani of the Ports Terminal Multi-Services Limited (PTML) Command, Comptroller Istifanus Musa and other high ranking officers, including some family members.
The Customs Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Frank Okechukwu Onyeka had kicked the occassion off by commenting on the performance of the Command thus far.
He said “I congratulate all those who have been promoted. To those whom much is given, much is expected”. He informed the house that “we have about 87% of all those who took the examination from the Command passing and eventually got promoted, this is very encouraging”. A total of 187 officers were promoted from the Tin Can Island Port Command in this particular excercise.
The Board of the Nigeria Customs Service recently approved the promotion of 3,312 senior officers across various ranks from Comptroller of Customs (CC) to Assistant Superintendent of Customs II (ASC 11). The various Commands, Wednesday started the decoration of their officers and CAC Onyeka is particularly elated that most of the officers who took the promotion examination were promoted.
He also made reference to the performance of his Command in the month of August saying “we generated over ₦159 Billion in the month of August and this is as a result of the use of the Unified Customs Management System, codenamed B’Odogwu. B’Odogwu has come to stay as it has served us all well”.
In a rather consolatory gesture, the CAC spoke to those who could not be promoted for now. He appealled to them to be patient saying that “I came into the Service in 1991 and some of my squad mates are now Assistant Comptroller-Generals of Customs and I am still a Comtprtoller, but, I am very grateful to God for where I am now”.
The decoration ceremony proper started with deputy comptroller Olisa Alumona getting decorated by Comptroller Onyeka and assisted by Comptroller Istifanus Musa while other promoted officers were equally decorated. At the conclusion of the decoration excercise, a lot of food and drinks were served to everyone present at the occassion.
