The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Friday announced the retirement of 34 of its officers.

A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Mr Wale Adeniyi, said the retirement was part of the re-organisation in the service.

He said the retirement of the affected officers was with immediate effect.

``As part of the ongoing re-organisation in Nigeria Customs Service, 34 Senior Officers have been retired from Service with immediate effect.

``The re-organisation of the service is one of the core mandates of the Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali,’’ the statement read.

He said those affected were five Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs (DC-Gs) who had earlier given notification to the Comptroller-General for voluntary disengagement.

They are John Atte, Ibrahim Mera, Musa Tahir, Austin Nwosu and Akinade Adewuyi.

Adeniyi said the three Assistant Comptrollers-General involved are Madu Mohammed, Secretary to the Nigeria Customs Board, Victor Gbemudu, Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘A’ and Bello Liman, Assistant Comptroller-General (Headquarters).

Others are Comptrollers serving in Customs Headquarters, Zonal Offices and various Area Commands.

The statement quoted Ali was as saying that the retirements were part of measures to kick-start the repositioning of the service for improved performance.