By Stephen Ubanna
Compt. Joe Ananani, may not have headed Customs Command, in Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve centre or the Onne, Oil and Gas Free Zone, River’s port, Port Harcourt, Delta port, Calabar port in Cross river state or any of the interventionist across, that should have given him the experience on how to go about his job in Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML.
Compt. Ananai, may have taken the last six weeks in PTML, to study the situation on ground before moving into action. Guided by Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller General of Customs, CGC, directives on enhancing Customs-Community relationship, and the Command’s existing relationships with sister security agencies may have emboldened him hit the ground running.
He may have alluded to the sister security agencies which the Command had a good working partnership to include the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Commission, NAFDAC, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Nigerian Police Force, NPF, Department of State Services, DSS, among others.
Compt. Anani, who may have also been encouraged by the Command’s tracks record in anti-smuggling operations and revenue collection to hit the ground running as he had confirmed that he took over ‘’ a well- organized Command’’ from Tenny Mankini Daniyan, who had been elevated to the enviable rank of Assistant Comptroller General, ACG, which qualifies him as a member of the Customs Management Team, under the current Leadership of Adeniyi. It was not surprising why he did little or nothing to restructure the Command but to continue with the structure he had met on ground which had paid off.
From the onset, the Customs Comptroller, who had taken the anti-smuggling war seriously had made it clear to the importers with their agents that PTML, under his close watch will not ‘’compromise on national security on the alter of trade facilitation’’. This may have informed why he had stepped up ”inter-agency collaboration, intelligence sharing and renewed crime prevention strategies at the port”.
It would be recalled that the Customs Comptroller had sounded it loud and clear to the Leadership of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA and National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, Tin -can Island Chapters who have had opportunity of meeting with him , of his resolve to reposition the port to be one of the best in the country by ensuring that importers and agents will do the right thing.
The PTML, Area Controller was said to have also spoken his mind to the Leadership National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, NCMDLCA, Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria, AFFLON, who , he believes in turn would pass the message to their members to avoid any dirty bad job that would bring them into conflict with Customs personnel at the port or terminals supervised by the Command He was emphatic that ‘’Compliance saves time, saves money and helps in building a reputation for business growth towards migration to the Authorized Economic Operator, AEO status’’.
He may have shocked many when rolled out the list of Contraband that had been seized by the Command between six weeks.
Compt. Anani, who could not hide his feelings had said that anti-smuggling remains a strong point of his Administration as he had continued from where his predecessor had stopped.
He had cited the seizure of the WE Tactical Taiwan soft pistol, Two Magazines and 12 rounds of Live ammunitions which only eagle eye officers could see. This is in addition to the seizures of 1X40ft Container with marks and number ACLU 9806850. The Container was said to have been falsely declared as magnetic resonance imaging apparatus. The PML, Customs Chief asserted that upon 100% physical examination by the relevant security agencies at the port, it was found to contain 6,272 cartons of antibiotics of various brands. He did not stop there.
He had confirmed that the Command under his Leadership within the short period in office also impounded 1x20ftContainer with marks and bearing registration number GCNU1275880, which the importer, was said to have declared as supermarket items but found to contain pharmaceutical products, during examination.
Valuation officers, had put the Duty Paid Value, DPV, of the seized 1X40ft,1X20 ft Containers and their contents including the pistol and the two Magazines of 12 rounds at N200,000000.00.
Besides the Command improved anti-smuggling drive, another core area of the Customs Operations that Compt. Anani may have shocked industry stakeholders was in the area of revenue collection.
Not many had expected him to make any appreciable impact in the Command monthly revenue collection with the six weeks he had been office because of the drop in imports.
The Customs Comptroller who is determined to prove book makers wrong that he can deliver on his mandate may have sent a message to other Customs Area Controllers, across the country that if they can meet and even surpass their revenue targets, PTTML, under his Leadership would do same, with significant margin.
Given an insider information, the Customs Comptroller, during first Meda briefing on October 24, 2025, had dislosed that between July and September 31, 2025, an interval of three months, the Command collected and paid into the Federation account the sum of N116,243,603,670.43 as against N86,584,012,733.43, collected and transferred into the Federation account within the same period in 2024. An elated Compt. Anani, had said the revenue collection by the Command in this third quarter of 2025, was 34.3%, much higher than the amount collected within the same trading period, in 2024.
Speaking with total Confidence, the PTML Customs helmsman who had volunteered information that the Command had collected a cumulative revenue of N350,347.173,787.92, in nine months, had confirmed that the Command had already made 96.64% of its2025 revenue target.
The revenue figure , according to maritime analysts had almost equated the total revenue collection of the Command recorded in 2024. The Command was said to have collected and disbursed into the Federation account N362, 521,085,250.98 in 2024.
Compt. Anani, had attributed the Command improved Enforcement drive and revenue collection to the support of the CGC, who had not left him to bear the teething Challenges of the B’Odogwu platform alone, which an insider had said, ”the Command is fast overcoming’’.
