President Muhammadu Buhari has narrated how the late General Sani Abacha, former military Head of State, gave tough tasks to Hameed Ali, Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
Ali, a retired Colonel, had served as military administrator of Kaduna State in Abacha’s regime.
Tuesday, during the opening of the new Customs Headquarters in Abuja, Buhari revealed that Abacha had confidence in Ali to handle important jobs.
He continued by saying that he trusted Ali, which is why he asked him to oversee customs.
Regarding Hameed Ali, I gave him the duty of overseeing customs. Whatever individuals may think of the late Sani Abacha, may they all go in peace. According to Daily trust.
“I knew him well. Around Kaduna was the main trouble spot when he somehow got Head of State and President of this country. He chose Colonel Hameed Ali and gave him the issues. It was my conscious choice to invite Hameed Ali to customs. For my own peace of mind, I brought Colonel Hameed Ali.
In 2015, Ali was appointed Customs CG.
In order to encourage Nigerians to grow food for their own consumption, Buhari also claimed to have closed the nation’s land borders.
2019 border closures were imposed by the president, a move that caused controversy.
Nigerian farmers applauded the programme while grinning at banks, but importers of products via the borders bemoaned difficulties.
Further, Buhari stated that despite early criticism of the action, Nigerians finally came to embrace it.
Please be aware that it is more than 1,600 kilometres from Lake Chad to the Benin Republic; therefore, only God can effectively protect the borders. Therefore, you require someone who is motivated and capable of supervising. I purposely shut the borders because I knew that when Nigerians ordered rice, they would send some to Niger and the remaining to us before bringing it here.
“With our potential, our people, our land, and our weather, how many countries in the world are as lucky as Nigeria? Very few countries.
Nigerians insist on eating cooked rice along the 1,600-kilometer border because they believe that you must eat what you cultivate or you would perish. Later, Nigerians understood what I was trying to say and appreciated it.
