By Stephen Ubanna
Fraudulent importers with their clearing agents operating at the Lagos ports of Apapa, Tincan Island, particular, and smugglers , operating between neighbouring Republic of Benin, the Central African country of Cameroon, and Nigeria, with a market for the sale of their Contraband goods in the south eastern and south-south geopolitical regions are in trouble.
Their trouble became pronounced when information filtered out late last January, that the duo, DC. Olukayode Kayode and AC.Alhaji Ahmed, have been deployed to the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone C, as Acting Area Controller and Head of Operations unit respectively.
Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel and Comptroller General,Nigerian Customs service , NCS, may have been encouraged to deploy DC. Kayode, who has started his career as an enforcement officer at the FOU, Zone A, Ikeja, Lagos, in the ‘90s, to FOU, Zone C, because of the impressive performance of DC. Hussain Kehinde Ejibuno, who many believe has turned himself into a super- senior enforcement officer in the south west geopolitical region, always on the electronic, Newspapers and online news. , to draw the attention of the Ali led Management of his efforts to curtail smuggling activities in the south western geo-political region.
The FOUC, Zone C, acting Area Controller , may have sent a message to the Fraudulent importers with their agents and the die –hard smugglers that it is no longer to be business as usual ‘’after reviewing and re-jigging the Command operational modalities based on ‘’ the approved Customs Standard Operating Procedure, SOP, worldwide. Acting on the instructions of the DC.Kolade, the FOU, Zone C, acting Area Controller, AC, Ahmed, the Head of Operations and his team, have hit the ground running. Given his experience as a former Head of the FOU, Zone A, Strike Force Unit, covering the south western states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Odo and Ekiti, he did not wait for anyone to tell him on how to deal with the fraudulent importers with their agents and the dire –hard smugglers as he knows their tricks. It was therefore, not very difficult for him and his teams to match them.
He may have known that the Lagos –Benin road, Akwa Ibom and Cross river border Communities with Cameroon, are very porous that that he has master-minded the redeployment of more operational officers to the outstations in the three states to effectively checkmate activities of the smugglers.
As hard as Ejibuno, the acting Area Controller of the FOU, Zone A, and his anti-smuggling Teams stationed at different locations in the states were said to have tried to curtail the activities of the dare-devil smugglers operating between the south western states of Lagos, Ogun , Oyo, Osun, Ondo, and Edo , the heart- beat of the nation, the smugglers were said to have always beaten the FOU, Zone A, on the road , thus providing job for the agile waiting DC.Kolade’s men, stationed at different locations within its areas of jurisdiction in the south eastern and south –south regions.
Barely two months on the saddle as the acting Area Controller, FOU, Zone C, DC, Kolade, who has effectively used AC, Ahmed, the Command , Head of Operations unit, has shown that his years at the FOU, Zone A, Ikeja, Lagos, as a Cadet enforcement officer , was not waste but has prepared him for the challenges ahead.
From the Edo/Delta Command, Government warehouse, Aduwawa, Benin, Capital of the south-south state ofEdo to Government warehouse, Owerri, Imo state, the story is the same: filled to the brim, with intercepted and seized Contraband goods that had contravened the government 2023, Fiscal policy.
Comptroller Olomu Babatunde Olukayode, of Edo/Delta Command may have given an insight to the impressive performance of DC. Kolade and his team, at FOU, Zone C, when he told Journalists recently in Warri, the Command Headquarters, that ‘’towards ensuring the security of seizures and detentions , put under its care, the area which is blessed with an ultra-modern Government warehouse in Benin outstation Aduwawa, has released it to the FOU, Zone C and Joint Border Drill, Patrol Team A, where their Contraband seizures are brought in for proper documentation and safe keeping’’.
An insider informed The Value News that over 90% of the intercepted and seized Contraband goods domiciled at the Edo/Delta Command Aduwawa Government warehoure, were brought in by DC. Kolade’s enforcement officers who are stationed at strategic smugglers’ routes between Edo and the south western state of Ondo.
Compt. Olomu, had confirmed that the Command is currently in the custody of seizures of the FOU, Zone C and the joint Border Drill, Team A, Lagos in excess of N27 million. Given an insider information of the Contraband seizures that had been made Jerry Attah, a Superintendent of Customs and the spokesperson of the Command had said that within the two months of the Leadership of DC. Kolade, ‘’the Command has intercepted and seized five sacks of Pangolin scales, some hard drugs and other prohibited items. The FOU, Zone C, spokesperson, had listed other seized items which included 398 sacks of cannabis sativa, popular, Indian hemp, grown in the West African country of Ghana, and 2,308, compressed parcels of the Cannabis sativa , weighing I Kg each .
This is in addition to 26 cartons of CMC Cough Syrup, with Codeine of 100 mg , described as hard drug , four rolls of ZH tramadol containing 40 packs containing , 2,600 bottles, 31 cartons of other various medicaments three units of exotic vehicles all bullet proof , alleged bought from Cotonou, Republic of Benin and smuggled into the Nigerian market,931 jumbo bales of second hand clothing, and 540 pieces of used pneumatic tyres. The Command, according to the acting Area Controller, had said that it equally intercepted 32 jerry cans of 25 litres each of petrol, and 484 bags of foreign parboiled rice which a source confirmed was intercepted by the Command teams stationed around the smuggler routes between Nigeria and Cameroon, in Cross river and Akwa Ibom states. Valuation experts had put the worth of the contraband goods seizure within the two months under review at N2, 757,676,390.00.
Informed sources told The online Magazine that most of the intercepted and seized Contraband goods were made along the Lagos-Benin axis and some flash point notorious smugglers routes in the south eastern and south south geopolitical regions. Beyond the seizure of Contraband goods by the Command, the FOU, Zone C, acting Customs Comptroller, had said that it also recovered the sum of N61,467,109.00, lost government revenue through issuances of Demand Notice, DN, based on some infractions discovered on goods released from the Lagos ports of Apapa and Tinan can Island , heading to the south eastern region or released from the Onne port by PortHarcourt Area II, Command , Personnel, heading to Aba market or any other part of the south eastern states of Anambra, Enugu, Eboyi, and Imo.
Appealing to Nigerians , particular, residents of the border Communities , in Cross river and Akwa Ibom states, to support the service with relevant information, he noted that it is the only the people could assist he service to perform their statutory responsibilities of revenue generation and accounting for such revenue collected, trade facilitation, suppression of smuggling and implementation of other government policies that may be promulgated by the National Assembly at the instance of the President at any given time.
