From left: Comptroller Dera Nnadi takes over the mantle of leadership at the Ogun 1 Customs Area Controller from Comptroller Peter Kolo, who retires from the service, Monday, October 18, 2021.

Newly promoted Comptroller Dera Nnadi has taken over as Customs Area Controller at the Ogun I Command of Nigeria Customs Service. He replaces Comptroller Peter Kolo, who is to proceed on a three- month pre-retirement vacation as prelude to his final exit from the service.

Until his decoration as a full Comptroller penultimate Thursday at the Customs Zone A, Lagos headquarters, Comptroller Nnadi was the Deputy Comptroller in charge of Administration at the Ogun 1command.

A statement signed by the command’s Public Relations Officer, DSC Hammed Bukoye Oloyede, said that the takeover is effective Monday, October 18, 2021.

While speaking during a handover ceremony at the command, Comptroller Kolo described the appointment of Comptroller Nnadi as his successor as a round peg in a round hole, saying he was rest assured that he will not only sustain his legacies, but even build on and surpass them. He congratulated the new Customs Area Controller and prayed God to guide him in all his future endeavours.

The outgoing Comptroller also thanked the Comptroller General of the Service, Col. Hameed Ali rtd. and the entire management team for giving him the opportunity to serve and for providing a level playing field for him as Customs the Area Controller of Ogun I Command. He expressed his gratitude to other principal officers and even men of the service at the command and beyond for their unflinching support and cooperation.

In his own response, Comptroller Nnadi thanked the entire management of the service for finding him worthy of the position and pledged to discharge his duty with utmost diligence and high sense of responsibility.

He also thanked the outgoing CAC, who had been his boss in the last one year when he was redeployed from the Tin Can Island Command of the service for his mentorship and selfless service to the Nigerian nation. While appreciating his exemplary administrative style of leadership, he pledged to uphold the tenets of professionalism, diligence in all his official duties while uplifting the enviable status of the Service. He wished him happy and peaceful retirement.

The new Comptroller also charged all the principal officers and the entire officers/men of the command to extend their loyalty and cooperation to the leadership at the command under his watch brace up for a new era of professionalism diligence and total commitment to duty.

Until his posting to the Ogun 1 Command, Idiroko, Nnadi was the Deputy Comptroller in charge of Enforcement at the Tin Can Island Command of the service during which outstanding seizures comprising large cache of arms and ammunitions, illicit drugs including large quantities of outlawed tramadol and many other contraband goods were made.

A former Public Relations Officer both at the Zonal Headquarters, Lagos and Apapa Area command, Comptroller Nnadi played crucial roles during the port concession programme in 2006, Customs reforms that ushered in the Destination Inspection regime as well as the introduction of the Nigeria Common External Tariff and the e-Payment regime in Customs in 2008.

He was at the Strategic Research & Policy Department of the service headquarters Abuja, where he held the position of head of Intellectual Property Right/Environment & One Stop Investment Centre.

He is a member of the National Trade Facilitation Committee, a committee that worked towards Nigeria’s ratification of the World Trade Organisation-Trade Facilitation Agreement and is also effective as the committee for the smooth implementation of TFA in Nigeria.

The new Comptroller is also involved in the Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS transit project as a member of the National Inter State Road Transit Scheme, which works towards ensuring adherence to the ECOWAS protocols on the Abidjan –Lagos Corridor (ALCO) and the Lagos – Kastina- Jibia (LAKJI) corridor.  

In addition to these national assignments, Comptroller Nnadi served as a member of several other committees in the service, which include but not limited to the Service Strategic Plan and the review of the Customs & Excise Management Act CEMA. 

Comptroller Nnadi maintains extensive contacts and networking among the various stakeholders, generating positive image for the service. In doing so, he is widely respected for being firm and decisive on the position of the service he projects without compromising courtesy. To those that know him, he enjoys considerable confidence of the maritime industry stakeholders, and can be relied upon to activate Customs Business Dialogue Sessions as he is ever ready with opinions for the best interest of the industry whenever consulted.

He has attended several courses in Public Relations, Event & Crisis Management, Cross Border Crime Prevention, and Leadership & Management, Trade Facilitation Agreements, among several other trainings and workshops.

An alumni of the world renowned American International Law Enforcement Academy, he is a Fellow and Senior Research Fellow of the International Logistics Administration and also Fellow Freight Forwarders Academy of Nigeria. He has won several awards in the past including the Prestigious World Customs Organisations WCO Merit Award for promoting Customs Business relationship, among several others.