…Promises to sustain impressive revenue record achieved so far
Comptroller Babajide Jaiyeoba, today assumed duty as the Customs Area Controller in charge of Apapa Customs Command in a colourful ceremony held at the command headquarters in Apapa, Lagos State.
Jaiyeoba who until last week was the Customs Area Controller in charge of Oyo/Osun command took over from Auwal Baba Mohammed who has since been promoted to the rank of Assistant Comptroller General, ACG in charge of Technical Services at Customs Headquarters, Abuja.
In his address shortly after taking over the reins of the command, Jaiyeoba disclosed that he came prepared for the task ahead of him which he said include collection of revenue due to the government and promotion of culture of compliance in the command.
Acknowledging that the task before him was not going to be easy, the new CAC assured of his resolve to surpass the revenue target set for the command by the customs management and beat expectations of both the management of the service and the stakeholders alike.
He thereafter appealed for the support of both the officers and stakeholders of the command to deliver on his promises to sustain the impressive revenue record of his predecessor, ACG Auwal Baba Mohammed.
Jaiyeoba assured both the officers and stakeholders that he would run an open open door policy at the command, facilitate trade and block revenue leakages at the command.
Earlier in his speech, the outgone Customs Area Controller, now ACG, Auwal Baba Mohammed while applauding the officers of the command for the feat they achieved together while he was on the saddle as the CAC, urged them to remain resolute surpass government expectations of them in revenue collection, anti-smuggling operations and trade facilitation.
Reeling out some of his achievement in the command, ACG Mohammed recounted that the command collected N676b as revenue for the Federal Government between January and August 2023. He added that the command collected it’s highest monthly and daily revenue in August 2023.
According to him, a total of N136b was collected as monthly revenue in August while N10b was collected on 3rd of August, 2023 being the highest monthly and daily collections in the history of the Nigeria Customs Service.
He listed some of the seizures made within the first eight months of 2023 to include N21.6b worth of tramadol packed in 720 cartons containing 143.8million units of 225 milligram tablets and weighing 10.3 tonnes and the hand over of another 20 cartons of illicit drugs valued at N1.4b to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
Mohammed disclosed that teamwork, diligence and zero compromise assisted in several revenue and other operational successes the command recorded under his watch even as he urged the officers to continually prevent smuggling or importation of prohibited items.
According to him, the port is critical to the economy and national security, stressing that import and export prohibition lists should be adhered to at all times.
He therefore, commended the officers’ vigilance in uncovering and seizing two pistols hidden inside a groupage container while advising importers and their agents to keep abreast with federal government guidelines on items that requires end user certificate to ensure compliance and due diligence before embarking on Importation.
The ACG equally urged exporters to take advantage of the various incentives made available to them by government including the Domestic Export Warehouse, DEW and other initiatives put in place by government that allow cargoes to seamlessly access the port and be loaded into vessels without going through multiple checks and reopening of containers.
Photo: (R-L): ACG Auwal Baba Mohammed, former Customs Area Controller, Apapa Customs Command handing over flag to Comptroller Babajide Jaiyeoba, the new Customs Area Controller of Apapa Customs Command during the hand over ceremony in Lagos today.
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