Former military administrator of Kaduna State, Hameed Ali, a retired Colonel, has resumed duty as the new Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, two weeks after he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Upon resumption, Ali had a meeting with management of the Service where he told them what the President expects of him.

“The mandate he has given me are three basic things: go to Customs, reform Customs, restructure Customs and increase the revenue generation, simple. I don’t think that is ambiguous, I don’t think that is cumbersome. It is precise and I believe that is what all of you are here to do,” he said, according to a statement issued by Customs spokesperson, Wale Adeniyi.

There had been speculation about why Ali did not resume immediately he was appointed, with some saying he had wanted to get the assurance from the President that he would operate as sole administrator and report directly to him, rather the Minister of Finance, as was the practice.

At the meeting, the new CG told the management that his mission was to rebuild and strengthen the Customs and that he could only achieve that with the support of every staff.

Born in Dass local government in Bauchi state on January 15, 1955, Ali graduated from the Nigeria Defence Academy in 1977 and seven years, he proceeded to the Sam Houston State University in the U.S., where he graduated in 1988.

He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminology.

Ali served as military administrator of Kaduna State between 1996 and 1998. Before then he had been appointments include General Staff Officer II, Military Police Headquarters, 1981-1982, General Staff Officer II, 1 Mechanised Div, Kaduna, 1992, and Commander, Special Investigation Bureau, Apapa, Lagos 1994-1996.