Comptroller General Dikko Abdullahi yesterday bowed out of the Nigeria Customs Service in style after performing his last official function by inaugurating a three-storey state-of-the-art hospital facility built by the Service to improve the welfare of its staff and Nigerians living around the area.

The project is one of the lasting legacies he left behind in Customs where he worked for 27 years

Abdullahi bowed out of service after six years in the saddle, leaving a legacy for the people of Karu, a densely populated, but largely underdeveloped part of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

NanmanNandap, medical director of the NCS hospital, Karu, described the hospital as a comprehensive medical facility equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and a well-trained staff. He listed some of the features of the hospital as modern radio-diagnostic and ultrasound equipments; three modular theatres and an intensive care unit with a central gas supply system. It also has executive wards and a mortuary.

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai lauded the management skill of Abdullahi, especially his commitment to the welfare of staff. He expressed mixed feelings on his retirement and described him as “a fine public servant.”

The out-going Custom’s boss described the new edifice as a consolidation of his welfare programme through the delivery of quality health care services to officers and their families.

“This complex will not only cater for the need of Customs officers and their families. The entire Karu community will benefit from its services and reach. From the level of sophistication of our equipment and the quality of our personnel, this facility will also serve as a reference hospital for the entire FCT community,” Abdullahi said.

•Photo by Bayoor Ewuoso shows, from left; Comptroller-General of Customs, Dikko Inde Abudullahi; Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and Senator Sabo Nagudu from Kaduna State, during the commissioning of Customs Hospital Karu . . . yesterday in Abuja.