The spokesperson of Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Joseph Attah has explained that the new uniform introduced for the service personnel recently was to ensure that its operatives are saved from the burden of putting on one uniform all through the month.
Attah, who said patrol officers will not use the new uniform, noted that while the military and other para-military organizations are having two to three types of uniform, the Customs had just one right from time.
He added that the Service had been working on having a new uniform for a long time before the one recently introduced one was accepted by the management and made known to the general public.
The spokesperson, however, emphasized that Customs had only added a new uniform to the formal one, not a change of uniform.
He said, “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, and you’ll discover that they have different colors of uniform. If you even look at the Immigration, there are different colors.
“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.”
He added that all the officers will get the uniform first before the operatives will start using it.
He said only commissioned officers are allowed to wear the new uniform for now.
“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,” Attah said.