By Suzzy Tolofari
Abuja – The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that the figures displayed in an online publication regarding its officers and men on assets declaration were misleading information.
The Acting Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Attah, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja while reacting to a publication on the internet that out of 17,500 customs officers, only 1,191 declared assets.
Attah said that officers serving at various customs command across the country went to the nearest branches of Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) offices to make their declarations in compliance with the Comptroller-General’s directives.
“People are not just patient enough to get the right information; the figures that were published were gotten from the headquarters.
“Officers serving at Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Sokoto need not come to CCB office in Abuja to make their declarations.
“So if the figures being reported based on the list of those who were serving as at the time the list was compiled here in Abuja then that will be a misleading information,’’Attah said.
He said that the total number in the list collected from the headquarters showed that not all the officers went to declare their assets, adding that some of them had earlier done it.
“We have some officers that have been declaring, so if you have just decleared four months ago before the directive, you needed not to declare; the directive was for those who have not declared.
“Asset declaration is a personal thing; if somebody declares in another state or even in the same unit, that officer will not bring the form to his superior officer rather the form goes to CCB.
“So the figure they are quoting is misleading,’’ he added.
