Not all Customs officers are corrupt – Edike

Assistant Comptroller General of Customs (ACG) Charles Edike has said that contrary to the general perception that all customs officers are corrupt, there are still many who are upright and have integrity.

Edike stated this at the weekend after receiving the Integrity Man of the Year 2017 award in the public service category by the Nigerian Association of Christian Journalists (NACJ).

The Customs boss noted that while there are few bad elements in the NCS, it will be unfair to condemn all customs officers as being corrupt.

“Somebody may want to say that what is a Customs officer doing with integrity award? In Nigeria, they say Customs officers are corrupt but the gentleman that wrote the book of Matthew was a Customs officer. If somebody like that can write the biggest book in the new testament, then you can also find integrity in the Customs Service.

“There are so many officers that are upright – both Christians and Muslims – but of course there are few that are not clean but those that are clean are far more,” he said.

Edike dedicated the award to the Comptroller General of Customs, Col Hameed Ali (rtd), who he said gave him the opportunity to serve, the NCS management team and all officers who have worked with him while he served as Area Controller at the various commands in Lagos and at the headquarters in Abuja. 

“I want to thank all the officers for their support. All the revenue we generated would not have been possible if not for these officers and also to our friends in the media. I thank you for your support,” he said.

Earlier, Secretary General of NACJ, Charles Okhai said the Integrity Award was organised to contribute the association’s quota to the fight against corruption.

“We realise that Nigeria has leadership problem and the problem the leadership has bothers on integrity and that is why we have corruption. We believe that if we are integrity conscious, we will shy away from corruption,” he said.