By Stephen Ubanna
Not may were surprised that Compt. Mohammed Babandede , immediate past Area Controller, PortHarcourt Area II, Command, overseeing the Onne port, was among the Customs Comptrollers elevated to the enviable rank of Assistant Comptroller General, ACG, at the 64 Board Meeting presided over by Hon, Wale Edun, minister of Finance and Coordinating minister of the economy and who incidentally is the Chairman of the Customs Board in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, on Sept 2, 2025.
Compt. Bandede, now an ACG, may have been deployed to the PortHarcourt Area II, Command, at a time when the unrepentant ‘’merchants of death’’ were fully out to undermine the Command trade facilitation efforts. Determined to beat the merchants of death in their own games to improve on the Command’s monthly revenue generation may have informed why he had cried out to Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, the Customs Comptroller Geneal, CGC, for his intervention to bring the situation under control.
The intervention of the CGC, to enhance the Command trade facilitation drive and broke the international supply chain used by the fraudulent importers who had taken advantage of ‘’the Customs pro-trade policy to commit atrocities at the Onne port’’ appears to have brought out the best in the former Onne Command Customs Area Controller to tighten up the noose against the criminal elements. He got it right.
This is evident going by the Command’s improved revenue generation between September 2024, when the CGC, took the bold initiative to declare’’ a State of Emergency’’ at the Onne port, which was said to have resulted in enhanced inter-agency collaboration and meticulous physical examination of cargoes as areas of revenue leakages were completely blocked by the then Compt. Bandede and his officers.
Unknown to many, the CGC who had beamed his searchlight at the PortHarcout Area II, Command was impressed with the spectacular Contraband seizures and improved monthly revenue generation that had continued to be posed by Compt. Babandede, which many have given the audacity to recommend him for promotion to the Customs Board for elevation into the Management when there were vacancies because of the retirement of some of the old Management Tram members who had attained the mandatory Federal Civil Service retirement age of 60 years or caught up by the 35 years age of service to benefit from his wealth of experience.
Until his appointment into the Customs Management Team, the former Port Harcourt II, Area Controller, Onne, described by maritime stakeholders as ‘’a reform -driven officer’’ was said to have streamline operations, reduced bottlenecks and boosted the Command monthly revenue collection throughout his stay at the port.
An official of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Onne Port Chapter, who spoke to the Value News online Magazine on condition of anonymity n had said that the bold initiatives introduced by the then Compt. Babandede at the Onne port since ‘’the declaration of a State of Emergency’’ by the CGC had positioned it as a competitive gateway for trade to the Lagos ports of Apapa, Tin-can Island and Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML.
The foremost agent had said that the former Port Harcourt II, Command, Area Controller, who has taken his Seat in the newly composed Customs Management Team believed to have combined strict anti-smuggling operations strategies, intelligence and trade facilitation drive at the Onne Command had resulted in the Command’s -record -breaking revenue collections and enforcement activities between May 2024 and July 2025.
Official statistics released from the Command Public Relations Unit, headed by Peter Duniya, a Chief Superintendent of Customs, shows that the Command had collected and paid into the Federation account the sum of about N860 billion, between January 2024 and July 2025.
Much of the revenue was said to have been made between Sept. 2024 and July, 2025, with the implementation of the State of Emergency that had been declared at the port by the CGC to clip the wings of the fraudulent importers and their international collaborators from the Asian countries of China, and the European Union, EU, member country of Turkey and other parts of the world.
Beyond the e revenue collection that was said to have been collected by the Onne Command under the Leadership of Compt. Bandede, now an ACG, he was said to have intercepted and seized about N200 billion worth of Contraband ranging from fake pharmaceutical products, drugs to arms and ammunition.
The CGC, who had alluded to the fact that the seizure of the over N200billion Prohibited cargoes by the Onne Command under the then Area Controller, Bandede, now an appointed ACG, were made in’’ strict compliance with the Customs Management CT, 2023, concerning Concealment, false declaration and importation of prohibited items had’’.
He had praised the former Onnee Command former Area Controller and his officers for ‘’their professionalism, diligence and safeguard to national security’’.
