By Stephen Ubanna
It was not unexpected when former Compt.Tenny Mankini Daniyan, Area Controller of Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML, who had implemented the pilot phase of the B’odogwu Platform, an indigenous technology which had replaced the Nigerian Integrated Customs Information System, NICIS, II, a foreign technology, managed and operated by WEBB Fontaine , for customs risk assessment , for imported goods , made the list of the newly appointed Assistant Comptroller Generals, ACGs, approved by the Customs Board under the Chairmanship of Wale Edun, minister of Finance and Coordinating minister of the economy on the recommendation of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, the Comptroller General.
The former Area Controller of PTML, elevation into the Customs Management team appears to have created a vacant position in the Command that need that needed to be filled up. This may have paved the way for the deployment of Compt. Joe Anani, to replace him as the new Area Controller of the Command to sustain the lofty records that had been set.
While taking over from the immediate past Area Compt Daniyan, now an ACG, at the Customs Headquarters, in an occasion attended by several stakeholders including Compt. Frank Okechukwu Onyeaka, Area Controller , Tin-can Island Command, the PTML , new helmsman who knew that he has a big task at hand and cannot afford to fail the Customs Comptroller General and Management Team for the confidence reposed on him to be deployed to a Command had given his words ‘’to keep to the lofty records that had been set by his predecessor.
He had commended ACG Daniyan, for the success recorded in the Command within the period in office and had promised ‘’to build on the various pioneering feats the former Customs Comptroller had achieved in the Command.
Compt. Anani, who had described the Command officers and stakeholders’’ as very well organized’’, had alluded ‘’ to the trade facilitation drive and impressive revenue collection of the Command associated with the B’odogwu, popular, Unified Customs Management System, UCMS’’.
This my have informed why he has called on the officers, officials of other sister security agencies at the terminal, importers with their agents and other stakeholders ‘’to join hands with him in the journey to sustain the great records that had been set by his predecessor ‘’.
He was said to have also urged all the stakeholder ‘’to stay on the path of compliance’’ to legal trade frameworks to take delivery of their cargoes from PTML, insisting that ‘’it is the only they stand to benefit more from being on the right side of the law at all times’’.
Taking a cue from his predecessor who had succeeded in blocking areas of revenue leakage at the terminal, Compt.Anani, who looked calm, may have sent jitters down the spines of the stakeholders, when he promised ‘’to strictly enforce the CGC’s zero tolerance on false declaration, underpayment and smuggling’’.
The Customs may have gladdened the heart of the industry stakeholders when he promised to be accessible to all’’, with genuine complaints, urging everyone to feel free to contact hm either directly through visits or virtually’’.
Appealing to all the Command officers and other relevant government agencies at the terminal and stakeholder to support him and his Management team to achieve their goal of sustaining PTML, as a model port of excellence ,known for security , efficiency and diligent trade facilitation, he noted that it is the way the Command under his leadership can build and improve on the gains that had been achieved by past Area Controllers in the areas of faster cargo clearance which aligns with the CGC, policy measure of Time Release Study, TRS, program.
Until his elevation to the ACG rank, Daniyan, the former PTML, Area Controller, was said to have set an outstanding record of two- hour cargo release time for compliant RORO Consignment. This may have informed why he was said to have repeatedly told the importers with their agents that the key word here to sustain the two- hour cargo release time and even do less than the two hours ‘’is ‘compliance and efficient system’’.
The Customs Comptroller who was emphatic that compliance to the Federal Government key trade facilitation drive, had stated clearly that’’ it is critical for the port smooth operations’’, as it ensures adherence to regulations, reduce delays in cargo clearance, mitigates risks and foresters trust among trading partners.
Speaking in his capacity as the Head of the PTML Management Team, he had sounded loud and clear to the hearing of the stakeholders, that compliance to the government Fiscal Policy ‘’minimizes bottlenecks and enhances efficiency in global trade and the port cannot be an exception’’.
To ensure tat stakeholders take delivery of their cargoes at the port without hassles may have emboldened him to call on them ‘’to imbibe the culture of compliance because it results in no -win situation for everyone, and even saving time and money.
His major worry is for the non-compliant traders who will always forfeit their goods to government due to persistent Customs interventions, issuance of demand notices, DN, waste of time and possible seizure, detention and arrests and subsequent prosecution in a Court of Law, as a deterrence to others who may want to indulge in such criminal acts in future.
Abdullahi Abubakar, a Chief Superintendent of Customs and the Command spokesperson disclosed that Stakeholders had used the opportunity provided by the change of Leadership in PTML, to pour encomiums on ACG Daniyan for his outstanding performance in seeing to the success of the B’odogwu scheme from its pilot phase to full deployments to Apapa, Tin-Can, Onne and various other Commands across the country.
The industry stakeholders had alluded to the increased trade, revenue, anti-smuggling and robust engagement with the Agents and freight Forwarders. Fran Ogunojemite, President of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria, APFFLON, had described the former PTML, Area Controller as a man whose track- revenue records speak volumes while urging him his wealth of experience and working zeal into the NCS Management Team to make the difference.
Charles Nwarrienne, Chairman, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, PTML chapter, on his part, had described the newly appointed ACG Daniyan as an excellent officer deserving to be issued a ‘’Certificate of Project Completion’’ for diligently achieving the success of ‘’the B’odogwu from beginning to a state of consolidation’’.
In the first half of this 2025, PTML, under the leadership of the then Compt. Daniyan was said to have collected and paid into the Federation Account a total sum of N2004,725,634,459.55 utilising the UCMS scheme, with much of the cargoes received from the Far East and the Asian country of China including Europe and the North American country of the United States, US.
With the laudable structure that had been put on ground at PTML, by the then Compt. Daniyan, now an ACG, for revenue collection as the Service had successfully resolved the 90% of the technical challenges being experienced with the UCMS, was a clear indication that Compt. Anani, may not experience any difficulty in meeting the Command 2025 revenue target and even surpass it significantly.
Indeed, given that the bulks stop on his table as the PTML Area Controller, he was said to have reassured the stakeholders while taking over from his Predecessor on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, that whatever unresolved challenges with the UCMS, technology, described as great milestones will be improved upon.
The major complaints of stakeholders since the launching of the pilot phase of the scheme in November 2024, had been in the area of Manifest, image capturing and reconciliation of duty payments in the banks, which may reflect and sometimes may not reflect int he bank used in the transaction which delays the clearing process at the port terminal.
