Flanked by some officers, Comptroller Dera Nnadi (middle) of the Ogun 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service displays some of the seized items before newsmen in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Wednesday.

The Nigeria Customs Service Ogun1 Area Command has seized a total of 12 lorry loads of foreign parboiled rice and other contraband items valued at N172.9million in the last one month, which is a result of the relaunch of its anti-smuggling campaign. The command also generated a total of N2.4million revenue mainly auction sale of seized petroleum products, especially the Premium Motor Spirit PMS and scrap metals, given that Federal Government’s directive on border closure is still in force and so no import and export activities.

The command noted that the seizure of the rice consignment should be of major concern to Nigerians, given that if such large consignment was allowed into the country’s market, would have negatively affected Federal Government’s rice policy negatively. This is given that a rice cooperative farm in Ogun State, specifically located at Imeko Afon area of the state with the active support of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Federal Government and the World Bank just last week harvested 2600 metric tonnes of paddy rice.

Recall that Comptroller General of the service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) had last month promoted and deployed Comptroller Dera Nnadi, who was until then Deputy Comptroller in charge of administration at the Ogun1command. He replaced Comptroller Peter Kolo, who retired from the service.   

Other contraband items seized during the one period under review include 300 litres of vegetable oil packaged in 25-litre kegs, 20 units of used vehicles, which were means of conveyance, two pieces of motorcycles also used as means of conveyance, four bales of used clothing materials and 26 sacks of used shoes.

The command also seized were 637kg of Cannabis, 20, 775 litres of Premium Motor Spirit PMS loaded in 25-litre kegs, 810 cartons of frozen poultry and four sacks of used toys with a cumulative duty paid value DPV of N172,999,387.00.

Briefing newsmen in Abeokuta, Wednesday, the new Comptroller also disclosed that the command has just taken delivery of 10 units of brand new Toyota Hilux vehicles, which he described as the Comptroller General’s gesture towards the command’s effective anti-smuggling operations. While thanking the Comptroller General and the entire management team of the service for such kind gesture, he charged the officers and men of the service to gear up for the work ahead to justify the provision of work tools by the management.

He said: “Gentlemen, I welcome you to Abeokuta for this press conference aimed at presenting our scorecard in Ogun 1 Command of Nigeria Customs Service in the last one month. You will recall that I assumed office as Customs Area Controller of the Command on October 18, 2021, exactly one month and six days today.

“Once again, let me use this opportunity to thank the Comptroller General of Customs Col Ibrahim Hammed Ali rtd and the management of the service for considering me worthy of not only being promoted to the rank of Comptroller, but for being deployed as the Customs Area Controller of Ogun 1 Command.

“This is a conferment of responsibility that I will not take for granted. It is a call for continuous service for which my officers and men with the support of the stakeholders must accomplish to the best of our ability.

“It is in fulfilment of this promise that we are here to share with you the record of our activities in our core areas of revenue generation, anti-smuggling operation and stakeholders’ engagement especially in ensuring that we strike a balance between trade facilitation and application of control at a closed border since I assumed office as the Customs Area Controller from October 18, 2021 to 23 November, 2021.

“The provision of the vehicles is no doubt, a demonstration of management’s support and encouragement to Ogun 1 Command. It is proof of management’s commitment to quality service delivery to the nation. This gesture will no doubt enhance our operation and improve our performance part of which we will share with you as we progress”.

He noted that this seizure remains a major win for the command as it celebrate these farmers who are testimonies and justification of the service’s anti-smuggling efforts in support of local rice productions in the country.

On revenue, he disclosed that the command generated a total revenue of N2.4million during the period under review, which were mainly proceeds of auction sale of seized petroleum products (PMS) and scrap metals, adding that the Federal Government’s directive on border closure is still subsisting and hence, no revenue is generated from import-related activities.

“We are deploying massive intelligence and are also deploying rules of engagement in all our operations. This has yielded greater successes being recorded on daily basis without casualties.

“We have extended our stakeholders’ engagement to include continuous interactions with critical stakeholders in the command. To this end, we have been engaging with the youths, who form the bulk of the human assets in Ogun State particularly at the border areas.We have also been engaging the elders of the communities, who in all honesty have a good knowledge and understanding of the challenges of enforcing government’s policy in the border especially as the borders remain closed.

“We have also been engaging with royal fathers of the state and have appealed to them to warn their subjects to desist from smuggling and attacks on Customs personnel. Let me use this medium to thank them for accepting to continuously help in this direction. We are also reaching out to the State Governor, who is the chief security officer of the state in this direction and the future looks mutually very rewarding for Nigeria Customs Service and the state”.

Comptroller, Nnadi, who was at some point Deputy Comptroller, Enforcement at the Tin Can Island Command of the service however warned smugglers and criminal elements in the state that the command under his watch would definitely uncover every illegal acts of theirs, make arrest and inflict gross financial injury on such ventures and their perpetuators.

He also warned that the command would henceforth no longer tolerate the continuous physical attacks on Customs and other security operatives in the state by these unpatriotic people, insisting that such attacks would not deter the command from sustaining the onslaught on smuggling activities.

While thanking critical stakeholders in the area, including the media for their support and cooperation, he assured that the command is determined more than ever before to carry out its anti- smuggling operations without any hindrance.