A retired Comptroller of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ralph Nwadike has said that he was “not surprised” that the former Comptroller General of Customs, Dikko Inde Abdulahi was being investigated for diverting funds meant for the Service.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on Wednesday disclosed that Dikko, had returned N1.04billion to the federal government out of the N40billion allegedly diverted from the coffers of the NCS under his watch.
Nwadike who served as Controller of Kirikiri Lighter Terminal Command before his retirement, told SHIPS & PORTS DAILY that the once powerful Customs Comptroller-General overstepped his bounds.
He said, “I am not surprised that Dikko is returning that kind of money and I’m yet to believe he has actually returned enough. All the people with this kind of record of bad examples are people that have the backing of their godfathers.
“If you put somebody in a position where he doesn’t merit because he has somebody on top he feels protected to do whatever he likes to do.
“How did Dikko get to become the Comptroller General of Customs? I was a Controller in 2004 and Dikko was either a Superintendent or Chief Superintendent of Customs and within a space of four to five years, he rose from Chief Superintendent to Comptroller General.
“Is it not the system that did it? So what do you expect him to do when he is given a cover to do whatever he likes and believes he is powerful than anybody?
“Because an officer is connected to one person at the top, he will ignore due process and put him in a rank he did not merit. Promotion was also lopsided.”
Nwadike urged the federal government to not only prosecute corrupt officials but address the root cause of corruption in the country.
“If we want to fight corruption, let us try to find out why some of these things are happening. It is the system that is fuelling corruption and until we investigate to find out what it is, we may achieve little or nothing. No doctor treats somebody without finding the case file,” he added.
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