Following concerns over the recent introduction of a new set of uniform by the management of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the organization has issued a statement to explain the rationale for the action.
In an interview with Dailypost on Friday, the Public Relations Officer of the Service, DC Joseph Attah stated that the uniform would be used by officers in the office or at the airport. He explained that the uniform would not be worn by its operatives on patrol, adding that the additional uniform was introduced so that Customs operatives would not have to wear one uniform all through the month.
He further explained that while other paramilitary organizations have more than one uniform, the NCS had a single uniform. He further said plans for the introduction of the new uniform had been in the works for some time now with different samples being considered for approval.
“Other uniform organisations, don’t they have two or three different wears that they can use in different situations and on different assignments? We have introduced an additional new dress. Addition not a change of uniform.
“It can be worn when you’re working in an office, maybe in an airport or depending on the type of assignment. Of course, you know you can’t wear this one to patrol.
“If you look at Airforce, you look at Navy, you look at the Police, you’ll discover that they have different colours of uniform. If you even look at the Immigration, there are different colours.
“For some time now, Customs is just one and you keep wearing one thing from the first day of the month to the last day of the month. This thing has been in the pipeline. We have been discussing it. We had sewn samples, management had gone through it for a very long time. And finally, they said ‘it’s okay we can go public now’. And even while going public, we only used two people to wear it and go public and we released a press statement.”
“The additional uniform will still go round but for now we are saying that only commissioned officers will start wearing it. We have declared it official as I speak with you, and many people are making efforts to get their materials.
“Maybe, eventually we will just decide that between so-so days you, can appear in it so that you don’t just wear one cloth from the beginning of the week to the end of the week.”
