By Stephen Ubanna
Not many are surprised that Comptroller Frank Onyeka is making all the efforts to sustain the record that had been set at the Tin-ca Island Command by his predecessor, Compt. Dera Nnadi, now an Assistant Comptroller General at the Customs Headquarters, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
Compt. Onyeka, knew that he cannot below the standard that that had been set by the immediate past Area Comptroller of the Command, TCIP, who was said to have given smugglers a battle of their life with his spectacular Contraband seizures that it was recognized by Bashir Aewale Adeniyi, MFR, as one of the Service Best Commands in anti-smuggling activities trailing behind Port Harcourt, ,II, Command , overseeing the port of Onne, in Rivers state, Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A Ikeja, Lagos, , and Apapa Command.
It would be recalled that the former TCIP, Area Command, had taken it to the level where it was also identified by the CGC, last Nov, during the CGC’S Award night as one of the best Revenue generation Commands.
Compt. Onyeka, may have known that the TCIP, cannot beat Apapa Command to it in revenue generation because the master and guru who knows how to collect the duties, even from the difficult traders is there and never beaten to knows that he has other competitors from Onne and Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML, to contend with.
A senior officer who spoke who spoke to The Value News on condition of anonymity disclosed that the Customs Comptroller who stays late in the office to attend all files on his table appears to have taken the bold initiative not to receive visitors after 6pm to avoid distraction. It was gathered that once it is 6pm, all visitors in the Comptroller’s waiting room are out from the premises.
These may have given the TCIP, Customs, who is determined to improve on the monthly revenue generation record of his predecessor could beat his chest of doing well.
Given his dedication and commitment to work, appears to have reflected in the month of May as the examination, releasing and the officer in-charge of the exit gate who are working closely with the Revenue Unit are working round the clock to impress the Area Controller. An insider confirmed that the Area Controller is always on the neck of the acting DC, overseeing the Command revenue Unit to know the daily and weekly revenue collection to know his line of action on how to further improve on it.
An agent had told The Magazine online that Comptroller Onyeka, could not have performed below his predecessor in revenue collection because he has adopted the same strategies used by the Compt. Babatunde Olomu of Apapapa Command in dealing with the importers and their agents by issuing Debit Note, DN, to traders who had contravened the government Fiscal policy .
Compt. Onyeka’s efforts at improving TCIP’s revenue collection appears to have reflected in the month of May, 2025, as the Command had collected and paid into the Federation account N128,446,323,224.4, compared to the N92,671,603,418.4, despite the down turn in the global economy collected and paid into the government coffers, within the same period in 2024.
It would be recalled that TCIP, had collected N347.9 bln, in the fist quarter of the year, 2025, meaning that the cumulative revenue of the Command which had been paid into the Federation account in between January and May, 2025, was a little over N476.3. The Command has a revenue target of N1.5trln, to pay into the Federation account this 2025.
Maritime analysts believes that the monthly revenue collection of the Command may still be fluctuating as the officers are still being trained on the the application of the B’Odogwu, an indigenous technology Components launched at the Apapa and TCIP last March, to replace the Nigeria Integrated and Customs Information System, which was a foreign Technology that deals on Customs Administration, trade Facilitation, Single Window System and business within the trade environment managed by Webb Fontaine, for the Service .
The BOdogwu, described as the Unified Customs Management System, UCMS, which have such components as the Trade Portal, Economic Cargo Tracking System, Cargo Release System, Enforcement System, Telecommunication, Video Surveillance, and Connectivity, among others
Trade analysts believes that with the achievements that had been made by Compt. Olomu led Apapa Command, with the implementation of the advanced B’Odogwu in its operations that had led specular Contraband seizures worth billions of naira in the last five months, and improvement in its revenue collection, officers and men of the TCIP, have no option but to follow the footsteps of their Colleagues to make their Area Comptroller, by ensuring that the Command revenue collection would not go below the April figure of the more than N145 billion collected and paid into the Federation account.
Aware that the Command was not even mentioned as one the Best Commands in the seaports doing well in trade facilitation may have informed why Compt. Onyeka, since last December had focused on trade facilitation and anti-smuggling operations, to be in the class of Compt. Olomu, who had set a record in the service, that other Area Controllers are still making efforts to rival.
