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 Daily Independent Online.
* Wednesday, August 11, 2004.
Gyang explains delay in
retirees’ benefits payment
Stories By Muyiwa Dare
Maritime
Reporter, Lagos.
Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs
Service (NCS), Mr. Jacob Buba Gyang, has said that the delay in the
payment of benefits to the recently retired officers was not deliberate.
Gynag, who disclosed this to journalists in his
office, promised to ensure that the affected officers receive all their
entitlements as soon as possible.
He frowned at the insinuation that the delay in
paying the officers was deliberate, alleging that the rumour even was
started by the retired officers, who wanted to portray the new leadership
of the service in the bad light.
He wondered why the they should be trying to
destroy the system that made them, saying their predecessors never
attempted to do that, more so that every officer will have to leave the
service one day.
“So, why should we sit on people’s benefits
when we shall all one day retire from the service? What benefit are we
going to derive from that? I wish to explain to those concerned that the
service has not deliberately delayed the benefits or has a hand in it,”
he said.
He appealed to the retirees to supply the
customs headquarters with all the relevant information that would
facilitate the processing of their documents for the payment, disclosing
that area comptrollers have been ordered to set up welfare offices in
this regard where the retired officers could go to lodge any complaint
they might have instead of travelling down to the Abuja headquarters. He
advised that the retirees, in the meantime, should bring their documents
for processing, as Mr. Ezekiel Okeniyi, has been directed to handle their
matters. He said that the delay in the payment of the benefits was not
the making of the customs service because the accounts department had
been directed to pay them the aspects that directly involved the service,
like the issue of transport.
To corroborate his exoneration of the customs
service, Gyang sad the National Insurance Social Trust Fund (NISTF) had
commended the customs for being the only organisation that paid its
monthly deductions promptly.
In another development, Gyang explained that to
ease the clearance of goods at the ports, guidelines for releasing goods
would soon be made public so that people would know who is in charge and
would be signing the release papers, in order to determine who to be held
responsible in case of any misconduct.
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