Uniform question By Femi Macaulay

 It isn’t trivial that the controversial Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Colonel Hameed Ali (retd), continues to trivialise the uniform of the agency by his unyielding refusal to wear it.  From the look of things, Ali is unlikely to wear the relevant uniform during his time as Customs chief. He enjoys the status, but it would appear that he is contemptuous of the uniform that reflects the status.

Ali seems to have come to the job with a superiority complex, thinking and believing that his background as a retired army officer means it is beneath him to wear the uniform of
an organisation he rates as inferior to the Army, even if he happens to be the boss.  Of course, there is a uniform that goes with the office and rank of Customs CG, and that uniform is supposed to project the agency, and its boss, who may be said to be the face of the organisation. Ali showed his mindset during a February 2 interaction with the Senate Committee on Customs and Excise concerning a proposed bill to restructure the NCS. A report said: “A member of the committee, Senator Obinna Ogba, demanded to know why Col Ali as Customs CG still appears in and wears mufti close to two years after his appointment. The Ebonyi Central Senator noted that the continuous appearance of Col Ali in mufti several months after his appointment appears to be ‘highly demoralising to officers and men of the front-line revenue generating agency.’ Ali fired back, saying that as a former military officer, tradition does not permit him to wear any other uniform.”
When another member of the committee, Senator Dino Melaye, recalled that Halidu Hananiya, a retired Army General, wore the uniform of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) as its Corps Marshall, Ali reportedly “told the committee that Gen. Hananiya made a fundamental mistake by wearing FRSC uniform.” It is food for thought that a retired Colonel suggested that he was more professionally conscious than a retired General.
It is interesting that Ali’s position provoked Senator Ogba to the point that he “angrily walked out of the session.”  The report said: “While walking out of the hearing room, Ogba retorted “this is how you people keep on deceiving Nigerians on wrong action and still defend it.”

Ali’s stance is indefensible. It exposed his complex; it also complexified   the uncomplicated.  If Ali thinks he is too big to wear the uniform of Customs CG, but does not think he is too big to be Customs CG, then he needs to be encouraged to rethink.  Hopefully, he won’t think he is too big to have a rethink.
Whether Ali can be compelled to wear the Customs uniform is not the issue.  So, the dramatic divergence between the Senate and Ali on the matter, which has attracted public attention and has been compounded by other matters, is a drama of distraction.
It is interesting that activist lawyer Femi Falana entered the fray with the argument that Ali “can’t be compelled to appear in uniform.” Falana said in a statement: “The Senate engaged in another illegality when it exceeded its powers by asking the CGC to appear before it in customs uniform. Neither the Constitution, nor the Rules of Procedure of the Senate has conferred on it the power to compel the CGC to wear customs uniform when he is not a serving customs officer. Indeed, the directive is a reckless usurpation of the powers of the Board which is the only competent body to decide on the wearing of uniform by customs officers. In many countries, including South Africa, customs officers do not wear uniforms. It is on record that the first four heads of the Customs department in Nigeria never wore uniforms.”
Falana continued his argument:”With respect to the customs service, its officers are required to wear uniforms in accordance with Section 8 of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service Regulations which provides that “clothing and equipment shall be of such pattern and worn in such manner as the Board shall determine.” The suit challenging the legal validity of Col. Hameed Ali’s appointment has been dismissed on the ground that the President has the power to appoint a non-customs officer to head the customs service. Since a competent court has held that he is not a customs officer, Col. Ali cannot be made to wear any uniform by the Senate. If I am said to be wrong, I challenge the Senate to refer to any law that supports the wearing of uniform by the head of the customs service who is not a serving customs officer.”
The question is not whether Falana is right or wrong. This issue is beyond what the law says; it is about brand logic.  If the Customs is seen as a brand, it follows that its head should be seen to be projecting and promoting the brand.  If Ali is the face of the organisation, not wearing the organisation’s uniform, or more specifically, trivialising what represents the organisation’s brand identity, amounts to doing a disservice to the brand.
Ali does not need to be compelled to wear the uniform of the organisation he heads, or pressured into embracing the brand by wearing the uniform that defines it.  Wearing the Customs uniform should be a matter of duty for Ali; it is a commonsensical approach to organisation governance.
Beyond the sound and fury that have characterised the public debate over Ali’s refusal to wear the Customs uniform, the heart of the matter is that Ali, by his stance, continues to exhibit a narrow understanding of organisation governance and the logic of organisation cohesion.

The question may be asked: What will it cost Ali to wear the Customs uniform? To put it another way: What has Ali got to lose by wearing the Customs uniform?  He may indeed have more to gain because it would show that he is a thinking man who can rethink things, which may make him a right-thinking man.

Ref: http://thenationonlineng.net