Senior Customs officer commits suicide

Dele Aderibigbe, Lagos - 23.06.2008

AGAINST the back drop of allegations of management insensitivity to the welfare of workers, a senior customs officer, Mr. Ibok Udoh, has allegedly committed suicide at Abule-Egba, a Lagos suburb after all his efforts to collect his entlttlements failed.

The deceased, a Deputy Superintendent of Customs, who was among the officers retrenched in 2007, was said to have committed suicide by hanging last Wednesday at his residence out of frustration.

According to a neighbour, the late Udoh, prior to his death, had repeatedly lamented his being a straight officer, regretting his not collecting bribes while some of his colleagues were allegedly doing so.

“We didn’t know he was ever thinking of killing himself. But, I can recall that several times, he would look into empty space, and asked himself ‘For God’s sake, why didn’t I too collect bribe when I had the chance?’ and each time the landlord terrified him, he would smile and ask himself ‘what am I still doing here?’ “

“But, he was never violent” the neighbour, who pleaded for anonymity, told the Nigerian Tribune.

Echoing the same views at the weekend in Lagos, Chairman, Association of Downsized Customs Officers 2007, Mr. Ojiuka Okoro, confirmed that the man committed suicide “out of frustration.

“The news was brought to me by one of my members. This officer that died had complained bitterly the last time we met that his children had been sent out of school; and due to his inability to meet his responsibility, his wife also absconded from the house.

“But what triggered this hanging, I learnt, was that the landlord served him a quit notice as he could no longer pay his rent. “