President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday approved the appointment of Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) as the new Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). He replaces Dikko Inde Abdullahi who retired from the NCS August 18.
The Customs Comptroller-General holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Criminology. Ali was born on January 15, 1955. He was Military Administrator of Kaduna State, Nigeria (August 1996 – August 1998) during the military regime of late General Sani Abacha. He is married to one wife and has four children. As governor, in October 1997 he sacked about 30,000 striking civil servants in Kaduna State, and detained 18 local government chairmen. A journalist who reported the sackings was allegedly arrested, severely beaten, then taken to the Government House and further tortured. The story published in Tempo Magazine was entitled “Goodbye Justice”. The story was later discredited and proven to be false.
After retirement, he became Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), a northerm lobbying group, and a supporter of Major General Muhammadu Buhari in his bid to run for president.
In June 2006, Ali stated that the North would regain the presidency in 2007. He supported Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s comments to the effect that President Olusegun Obasanjo would honour his pledge to vacate office in 2007. He was the Chief of Staff to Buhari before Buhari’s emergence as Nigeria’s President.
A press release issued yesterday by the President’s Special Adviser (Media & Publicity), Femi Adesina also named Kure Martin Abeshi as the new Comptroller-General, Nigerian Immigration Service.
Adesina said Abeshi hails from Nasarawa State. He joined the Nigerian Immigration Service in 1989 as an Assistant Comptroller. His educational qualifications include a Masters Degree in Public Administration.
Other appointments made by the President yesterday are as follows:
Engr. Babachir David Lawal – Secretary to the Government of the Federation
Alhaji Abba Kyari – Chief of Staff to the President
Senator Ita S.J. Enang – SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate)
Hon. Suleiman A. Kawu – SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives).
Adesina said the appointments are with effect from today, August 27, 2015.
Engr. Lawal, the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation hails from Hong Local Government Area, Adamawa State. He graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979 with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree and worked with the Delta Steel Company, Aladja, Nigerian External Telecommunications Limited and Data Sciences Limited before establishing his own ICT and Telecommunications consulting firm in 1990. He is also a member of the Nigeria Computer Society, the Nigeria Society of Engineers and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria.
Alhaji Abba Kyari, the new Chief of Staff to the President holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Warwick in Law and Sociology. He has worked with the New Nigeria Development Company, New Africa Holdings, African International Bank, United Bank for Africa, Unilever, and Mobil in various capacities over the years.
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