By Ahmid Lawal
Abuja
A group of concerned citizens comprising of technocrats and politicians from the North have commended the Headquarters Special Assignment of the Nigeria Customs service for successes so far recorded in the zone.
The groups under the aegis of Change for Development (CD) angling for second term of the APC led federal government said since the coming on board of the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs service, Col Hammed Ali (rtd), the country’s economy has been given a boost.
They attributed the development to the wealth of experience of the leader of the team, Assistant Comptroller of Customs Gambo Azare, who has operated in the zone for some time, as the galvaniser preventing banned items from flooding the Nigerian markets, through the zone.
CD explained that the zone with many borders has been effectively manned by the Customs team and has checked nefarious activities of smugglers in the area.
The president of the group, Comrade Abdullahi Mamman, stated this while speaking with journalists at the Northern Senators Forum retreat in Katsina, explaining that the effectiveness of Azare’s group on surveillance of the borders, has made their youths who hitherto indulged in the act of drug abuse and smuggling to abandon the trade to embrace genuine ways of livelihood.
CD further said that the APC government under President Muhammadu Buhari has genuinely embarked on the policy of change on which mantra it was elected, adding that the Comptroller of Customs, Gambo Azare’s anti smuggling team has sanitised the area by putting smugglers at bay.
It appeals to the Customs authority to continue to support and encourage the team in the area to bring positive change to the country.
Mamman said that academic backwardness is not the only threat bedevilling the North but poverty which has pushed many youths in the zone to social vices to earn a living.
