Change of Baton at Apapa Customs Command, as ACG Mohammed Hands Over to Jaiyeoba

Joy Mmereole Okoli

Comptroller Babajide Jaiyeoba, assumes duty as the Customs Area Controller in charge of Apapa Customs Command, Lagos State.

Before his resumption at Apapa port, Jaiyeoba was the Customs Area Controller in charge of Oyo/Osun command. He is taking over from Auwal Baba Mohammed who has 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 opined 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.

Admitting that the task before him is not going to be an easy one, the new controller assures 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 appealed for the support of both the officers and stakeholders of the command to help him 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.

The outgoing Customs Area Controller, now ACG, Auwal Baba Mohammed The disclosed that the Command collected over N676billion as revenue between January and August 2023.

while applauding the officers of the command for the feat they achieved together while he was on the saddle as the CAC, he urged them to remain dedicated and surpass government expectations of them in revenue collection, anti-smuggling operations and trade facilitation.

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.

The new APAPA boss appreciates the Ag. Controller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi for this and assurance of his commitment to build on the achievements of his predecessor in the area of revenue, trade facilitation, anti smuggling and promotion of customs community relations among sister agencies.