Jaiyeoba Takes Over As Customs Area Controller Of Apapa Command

Jaiyeoba Takes Over As Customs Area Controller Of Apapa Command

·         Pledges To Sustain, Surpass Revenue Records

Comptroller Babajide Jaiyeoba, who just assumed duties as the Customs Area Controller of Apapa Customs Command has pledged to sustain and possibly surpass the revenue records at the command.

He made this known in a ceremony held at the command headquarters in Apapa, Lagos.
Jaiyeoba who was the Customs Area Controller of Oyo and Osun commands 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 included collection of revenue due to the government and promotion of the culture of compliance at 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 the 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-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 and surpass government expectations in revenue collection, anti-smuggling operations, and trade facilitation.
Reeling out some of his achievements in the command, ACG Mohammed recounted that the command collected N676 billion as revenue for the Federal Government between January and August 2023, adding that the command collected its highest monthly and daily revenue in August 2023.
According to him, a total of N136 billion was collected as monthly revenue in August while N10b was collected on the 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 N21.6 billion worth of Tramadol packed in 720 cartons containing 143.8 million units of 225 milligrams tablets weighing 10.3 tons and the handover of another 20 cartons of illicit drugs valued at N1.4 billion to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Mohammed also 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 the 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 the Federal Government’s guidelines on items that require end users’ certificates 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 the government including the Domestic Export Warehouse (DEW) and other initiatives put in place by the government that allows cargoes to seamlessly access the port and be loaded into vessels without going through multiple checks and reopening of containers.