By Stephen Ubanna
Between March, 2025, now, Compt. Frank Onyeka, a tall and fair -skinned, Area Controller, of Tin-can Island Command, who looks ‘’cool and calm’’, who had been engaged in capacity building and training of officers from the Valuation, Enforcement, Revenue and the exit gate to those from the bonded terminals and the Command Head office preparatory to migration to the B’Odogwu Platform, an indigenous technology, operated by Trade Modernization Project, TMP.
Acting out a script of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, who had Launched the advanced B’Odogwu Platform at the Apapa Command, in March , 2025, and which is expected to be put into operations at the two Lagos based Commands, of Apapa and Tincan Island Commands , overseeing the Lagos ports of Apapa and Tincan Island ports respectively.
The Tin-can Island Area Controller may have started well in preparation for migration intothe B’Odogwu Platform the operation as he had already gotten an insider information of the core mandate of the Asian country of China, Huawei Technologies firm which had entered into a 20 years working agreement with the NCS, under the previous Management Team led Hamed Ali, an Army Colonel rtd, for automation of the Service, operations, in 2022, managed by TMP.
The Chinese company which has a mandate to provide all the necessary technical support to the Service in excise processes, manifest processing, licensing and revenue collections may have forced the officers to put on their thinking cap.
. Their job may have been made much easier to do with the introduction of the Unified Customs Management System, UCMS, Trade Portal, Electronic Cargo Tracking system, Enforcement system, Telecommunication system, Video Surveillance and Connectivity at the seaports.
The development of the B’Odogwu Platform, an indigenous technology, that was said to have been initiated by the Service, to replace the Nigerian Integration and Customs Information System NICIS, which was a foreign technology, managed by Webb Fontaine, designed ‘’to streamline and modernize Customs procedures, enhance user experience, was said to have improved management and increased productivity of the officers and men of the Command.
Prior to Compt. Oyeka deployment to Tin-Can Island Command as the Area Controller, he had supervised the Apapa port exit gate wearing a DC, rank, and haven seen the importance of the ‘’Video Surveillance’’ , which is one of the Core mandates of the Chinese firm to enhance the Service operations may have emboldened him to adopted it and put it into practice at the Apapa port before any agent could be allowed to exit with the client’s cargo from the port.
The then DC. Onyeka, may have succeeded in implementing such a bold policy initiative initiative because he has the backing of Compt. Babatunde Olomu, his immediate boss, described in security agencies circles as a ‘’servant Leader and unassuming’’.
The Customs Comptroller may have taken advantage of his new his position as the Area Controller of Tin-can Island Command to put into practice all that he had learnt from Apapa Command under Compt. Olomu to improve on the services provided at the Tin-can Island port that had bordered on trade facilitation, revenue collection and anti-smuggling operations.
He was said to have introduced at a broader scale, video surveillance, at the Tin-can Terminals both within and outside the port, something which he had started at a micro-level at the Apapa port.
On April 30, 2025, the Customs Comptroller General, who was in Lagos to showcase the over N900bn, intercepted and seized unregistered pharmaceutical products and expired food items, including drones and Telecommunication facilities that had no End User Certificate, EUC, from the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, by Apapa Command , may had alluded the ongoing capacity building efforts of Tin-can Island Command towards the operation of the B’Odogwu facility.
The seizure of multi-million-naira drones and Telecommunication equipment which did not have the required EUC, from the office of the NSA, by the Apapa Command with the aid of the B’Odogwu cargo tracking system was a pointer to what the Tin-can Island Command officers will do with his trained officers with the planned migration to B’Odogwu.
Compt. Onyeka, who was said to have made it possible for the Command officers at the various Units to be properly trained on manifest processing, revenue collections and anti-smuggling operations was said to have sustained it was determined to make history.
Indeed, the Command may not have faced much challenges in the implementation of the new technology like PTML, because Compt.Onyeka, had carried the officers and men of the Command including the shipping companies, Customs Licensed agents and terminal operators along in the B’Odogwu training programme, along.
OE.Ivara, a Chief Superintendent of Customs, and the Command spokesperson, may have spoken the mind of the Customs Comptroller, when he noted that the training sessions which had been embarked upon by the Command were designed ‘’to ensure seamless adoption of the new indigenous technology for Customs operations which was said to have covered critical areas such as system navigation, document processing, cargo tracking and compliance protocols in the capacity building initiatives.
The Customs Comptroller may have gladdened the heart of importers with their agents when he disclosed that the Tin-can Island ‘’remains committed to embracing technological advancements that support the nation’s economic growth and international trade agenda’’.
The Tin-can Island Command Customs helmsman who is optimistic that with the impressive performance of the B’Odogwu Platform so far, it will go a long way ‘’to further reduce transaction costs and improve global trade competitiveness in future at the port’’.
There is no gain saying the fact that with barely seven months after the Launching of the B-Odogwu facility at the Tin-can Island Command, Comptroller Onyeka, had proved pundits wrong with record breaking achievements.
He was said to have followed the footsteps of Compt. Tenny Daniyan, of Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML, who had issued the first Pre-Arrival Assessment Report, PAAR, under the B’Odgwu management system last April, that was celebrated in Customs circles, both in Lagos and the Customs Headquarters, Abuja, the Federal Territory, FCT, meaning that the introduction of B’Odogwu Platform has come to stay.
An elated Compt.Onyeka, who was said to have celebrated the Command first SGD, that was successfully processed with the B’Odogwu facility after after migration to the new Platform barely three months of after the Launching the new technology at Apapa Command by the CGC.
Many believe that some traders who are used to taking delivery of their client’s cargoes at Apapa port without being harassed at the exit gate because of their honest declarations and appropriate duty payments and who, the Apapa Command, former DC, in charge of the exit gate had developed confidence in over the years had followed him to Tin-can Island Command to take delivery of their cargoes. This may have paid off.
One of such clearing agencies companies was Stejosh Logistics International Limited. It was therefore not very surprising why the Tin-can Area Controller had agreed to use the agency’s job and declaration to be the first SGD, form to be captured and PAAR, issued to it with ease on the B’Odogwu system.
The message was very clear that with the successful capturing and issuance of PAAR, with the new technology at the at Command, other genuine traders could rest assured that getting their SGD, captured and PAAR issued would not be much of a problem. ease.
The Tin-can Island Customs Chief, who could not hide his feelings was said to have those that cares to listen that ‘’the Command, under his leadership could do that because it has ‘’achieved 100% network infrastructure coverage across the terminals under it.
Giving an insider information, he had said that ‘’the problem of the usual network failure with the NICIS, that was previously managed by Webb Fontaine has become a thing of the past, as ‘’the B’Odogwu had ensured seamless connectivity and efficient processing of cargo and trade documentation’’.
Guided by the fact that the B’ Odogwu Platform which was designed ‘’to integrate seamlessly with existing Customs systems, providing a user-friendly interface for declarants, brokers and other stakeholders’’, the Customs Comptroller was said to have gone a step further ‘’to enhance the Command cargo tracking and compliance management in real-time, reducing manual bottlenecks and opportunities for delay at the port exit gate’’.
