By Stephen Ubanna
In spite of the Lull in economic activities at the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, under the close watch of Mohmmed Koko, controlled Delta ports, of Warri, Compt. Olomu Babatunde Olukayode, the Area Conroller , Edo/Delta Command, knew that he cannot afford to disappoint Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel and Comptroller General.
Aware of the Customs statutory responsibility of revenue generation, trade facilitation, suppression of smuggling and implementation of government policies, Compt. Olomu and his team, were said to have hit the ground running late last year to effectively ‘’coordinate and monitor the Delta ports activities, jetties, and outstations of the Command’’’ as well as ‘’oversee the activities of the excise factories within its areas of operations.
As a prelude to ensuring that the Command improves on its monthly revenue generation the Customs Comptroller was said to have initiated a meeting with the International Oil Companies, IOC, Pre-shipment Inspection agencies, PIAs, and the Local oil Companies, LOCs, on how to ensure that the right is done and to make them understand the importance of paying their duties, be it import or export, and other charges and fees without being chased around or issued reminder letters to do so.
The Customs Comptroller was said to have gone a step further to strengthen the Command export Seat as the officers were made to know more about the crude oil exports through the Forcados and Escravos ,the two major oil terminals in Delta sate by the international oil Companies , IOCs, which was never the case over the past.
Moreso, given the fact that there were only two excise factories as at the time he took over the mantle of leadership in the Edo/Delta Command, he was said to have increased the number of the excise factory under the supervision and control of the Command to three, t contributing. More meaningfully to the monthly revenue generation of the Command.
Given an insider information about the performance of the Command between January – March 31, 2023, Comptroller Olomu who has a nose for revenue drive has left no one in doubt that he and his team are out’’ to improve on the Command revenue generation, notwithstanding its limited sources.
He noted that ‘’despite the obvious challenges recorded in the trade supply chain occasioned by the lull in Delta ports activities’’, the Command was still able generate and pay into the Feration account N10,994,852,411.50 , which industry stakeholders described as a commendable feat of squeezing water out of stone.
The Customs Comptroller may have shocked Nigerians when he revealed that the three excise factories within the Command’s area of operations: Nigerian Guiness plc, Coca-Cola Company and 7up Bottling Company, had leaved up to expectation as their excise duties payment were’’ steady and reliable’’, thus forming part of the Command’s monthly revenue collections. He had said that within the first three months of its operations this Fiscal year, the Command has collected NN1,493,415,809.50 from the excise factories.
Many see it as a remarkable improvement over the amount realised from the excise factories within the same period last year. The Command, according to Compt. Olomu had netted only N727,036,089.75, in the first quarter of 2022 An elated Compt. Olomu, who is impressed with the in-road that has been created in generating substantial revenue from the excise factories within the Command has given his words that ‘’the Command will do more to surpass the revenue target set for it by the Management in the remaining months of the 2023 , fiscal year.
Unlike in the past , when the Edo/ Delta Command , personnel, were kept in the dark about what is happening at the Forcados and Escravos terminals, as the IOCs and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation , NNPC, now baptized Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, by the National Assembly , in 2021, an which has been signed into Law by Buhari, the Nigerian President, had kept it a closely guided secre. Compt. Olomu, may have seen the loopholes that he , stood his ground and backed by the relevant sections of the Customs and Excise Management Act, CEMA, forced the IOCs and NNPC, to include Command officers and men in the examination of Crude oil cargoes for export for proper documentation.
An insider confirmed that between January and March 2023, the Free On Board , FOB, value of the Crude oil cargoes that passed through the Forcados and Escravos to the international oil market was worth 24,576,039,926.26 . The Command non-oil export drive was said to have also yielded fruit as it netted $392,280.79, within the first quarter of the year. Vintage Olomu.
The most striking about the Edo/Delta, Command’s activities with the first quarter of the 2023, fiscal year, was the alleged issuance of Demand Notice, DN, to defaulting importers when noting is passing through the Delta ports. The Command, under the Leadership of Comptroller Olomu was said to have issued 13 DN, to defaulting importers compared to the eight that was said to have been issued by the previous Management ,resulting in the recovery of N78, 990,809.00, which could have entered into private Accounts.
Although, the Command is not actively involved in anti-smuggling operations, but it has an ultra-modern government warehouse at Aduwawa, in its Benin Outstation which was said to have been made available to the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone C, and the Joint Border Owerri, Imo state, Operation to keep their Contraband seizures, for proper documentation.
Comptroller Olomu, said that much, while addressing the Media at the Command Headquarters, in Warri, on Wednesday, March 5, 2023 about the Command first quarter activities. He has confirmed that ‘’the Command is currently in custody of seizures of the two interventionist units valued in excess of N27 million’’.
The good news is that the FOU, Zone C, and Joint Border operations.Contraband seizures and detentions domiciled in the Command’s Aduwawa, government Warehouse are properly secured that it would be difficult for any criminal gang to break into it because of the tight security.
An appreciative Comptroller Olomu, believes that the Command could achieve that much in the first quarter of 2023, with ‘’the support of the Customs Comptroller General, and tireless commitment of the officers and men of the Command as well as the Cooperation received from the industry stakeholders’’.
He has alluded to the harmonious relationship between the Command and the other government agencies operating in the state, particular, NPA , National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration, NAFDAC, Department of State Security, DSS and the Nigerian Navy.
Comptroler Olomu , was particular, about the positive contribution of these agencies to the success of its operations in the first quarter of 2023 that he had used the opportunity provided by the media briefing to thank all the valuable stakeholders in Edo and Delta states for their ‘’continuous support and encouragement in the clearance value chain’’.
