Northern group criticizes customs chief for not creating enough jobs

 Northern group criticizes customs chief for not creating enough jobs

Comptroller - General, Nigeria Customs, Col Hameed Ali (retd)

Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Retired), the Controller-General of the Customs Service, has come under fire from a group operating under the aegis of the Kaduna Youths Forum for neglecting to hire young people as a solution to the North's unemployment and security issues.

The group claimed that there were enormous expectations of Ali, who was expected to use his eminent position to open up job chances for the throngs of unemployed youths.

The group singled out Ali, who they claimed has done nothing concrete to provide job chances for them after working and supporting the All Progressives Congress to win the 2015 elections, in a press release signed by the Coordinator, Ismail Mustapha Soba.

"We recalled how were overwhelmingly mobilized to join the nationwide 2012 gasoline subsidy demonstration in Kaduna that later resulted in the fall of former President Goodluck Jonathan's government," the group continued in the statement.

When we accepted the invitation to participate in the protest with the late former governor of Kaduna, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, a former lawmaker, Senator Shehu, and Col. Hameed Ali himself, along with other well-known Nigerians, we did so in the expectation that our unemployment issue and the alarming security issues the North was facing would soon be history.

However, it claimed that Ali has not hired any recognized Kaduna kid since being named the Comptroller General of Customs by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) in 2015.

"We challenge him to release the employment records per state so that he can refute us. We are open to being proven wrong, but according to our records and information, he never hired a serious individual to work at customs in Kaduna, instead switching to Bauchi State.

"He should know that one of Buhari's motivations for appointing him as the Comptroller-General was to address persistent service issues, especially the staffing shortfall," it continued.

The group noted: "It was expected that he visits Kaduna regularly to feel the pulse of the ordinary citizens, but as we speak, he has not found time to meet the youths that labor for Buhari's election victory. The group stressed that the personnel shortage would be solved with the recruitment of thousands of personnel for active duty.

He didn't even observe the person who went to submit the list of youths compiled to help them into Customs, let alone take any action.

If reparations are not made, we will be left with no choice but to mobilize for his sack.