Customs: A Comptroller’s Uneasy Job Against Smugglers

By Bayo Bernard

Comptroller Mohammed Uba Garba joined the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS many years ago as a young officer with the intent of serving his fatherland.

He has not stopped doing so despite the seeming challenges that come with his job.

Rain or shine, he must generate revenue into the Nigerian commonwealth apart from defending his country against smugglers and economic saboteurs.

From his vast experience in the service, he has often admitted that the work of a customs officer is not an easy one.

In spite of this, the lanky controller has made sure he went whenever duty called.

That could be the reason, watchers of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS say made him one of the most publicized customs officer living.

His boss in Abuja, Hameed Ali, the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, must have seen his dedication, so much so, that whenever there’s a hard job to do, the first name that comes to his mind is UBA, as the former controller, Seme Customs Command is popular among his colleagues.

Therefore, when the call came in January, for him to resume as Coordinator, Border Drill Sector 3 in the north central, Comptroller Mohammed, did not hesitate to answer the national call to duty.

The CG had called, charging him to brace up for a more challenging, difficult task, as his new assignment now covers four states: Kwara, Niger, Kogi and Benue.

“With all his field experience as controller of two strategic Customs commands in FOU, Zone A and Seme commands, Comptroller Mohammed cannot afford to count his eggs, because now his scope of work has now been expanded to cover four states,” said Sam Oyeifo, a security analyst.

He said, like any other officer, a lot of things must have gone through Comptroller Mohammed minds, after his boss in Abuja directed him, in February, to leave what seemed like ‘a comfort zone in Seme’ and proceed to Kwara to be in charge of the Border Drill post.

The Comptroller had immediately after his redeployment, told the magazine that, he will do his best not to disappoint the CG who has placed so much trust in him.

The magazine learnt that the first thing the controller did on arrival in Ilorin was to farmiliarise himself with all stakeholders in the area, traditional rulers most importantly to enlist their support.

“The controller believes that the royal fathers are closer to the people and could sensitize them of the need to support the government anti-smuggling drive,” said one top officer who did not want his name mentioned.

With all hands fully on deck, the job to rid the area of smuggling started in earnest, UBA and his men have not looked back since then.

Exactly four months after moving to Ilorin, the Kwara state’s capital and the headquarters of the Operations, he has rendered account to his superiors and the Nigerian public.

Speaking to journalists recently, Comptroller Mohammed disclosed that the Sector has made a seizure of over N1billion in the last 10months of its operations.

Within three months, the Sector made no fewer than 44 Seizures of various contraband items, including 1,657 bags of foreign rice; combined with the 14,813 bags seized from August last year, the Duty Paid Value, DPV stood at over N451 million.

Other seizures include 282 Kegs of Vegetable oil; 898 Drums of AGO; 1355 Jerrycans of Petrol; 348 bundles of Textile Materials; 28 bags of foreign fertilizer; 66 cartons of Beer, 26 units of Vehicles and eight motorcycles.

“This is a modest milestone considering that most of the items were seized within three months.

What this means is that the Sector has really tightened the borders as directed by the federal government,” said an analyst.

Chidi Fidelis, a revenue expert said “If you look at it very painstakingly, you will realize that the Sector has actually done well in the light of the land border closure by the federal government.

Apart from Tin can and Apapa commands, all land border commands have nothing to generate revenue from: it’s a matter of you cannot bring anything in, so where does the revenue come from.”

He said the Sector” must be doing the impossible, to at least ensure that revenue is generated into the coffers of the federal government at this time when the price of crude oil has collapsed in the international market.

By the these items are auctioned to the public, a whole lot of amount will go into the FG purs.

Somebody not familiar with the issues will try to downplay what Sector 3 has achieved within a very short time, especially when compared with FOU, Zone A and Seme, where Comptroller Mohammed had worked and left impressive revenue records.

But when you look at it very well, you will realize that the Sector was not established for revenue generation per se, but strictly an Enforcement Unit by the Customs to enforce the President Buhari’s import substitution policy,” the analyst said.

He’s right.

But the controller had at resumption disclosed that revenue generation and anti-smuggling is a major mandate given to him and his men by the CG.

Mohammed said “The Sector, in line with the directives of Comptroller-General of Customs, CGC Hameed Ali must ensure maximum revenue collection for government, while curbing smuggling in all ramifications”.

This is not particularly easy, because this requires the Sector’s Roving team to be on alert at all times against smugglers, who sometimes, are prepared to go through the thespian eye of the needle, to perpetuate their evil act.”

In spite of the milestone, Comptroller Mohammed has refused to take all the accolades.

Whatever the Sector has achieved, he said, is as a result of the hard-work of his eagle-eye men, who are always on the trail of smugglers and their accomplices night and day.

He did not also fail to acknowledge the collaboration of sister security agencies such as the SSS, Police, Civil Defence and the Nigerian Military in what the sector has been able to achieve so far.

Meanwhile, analysts insist that the job of Comptroller Mohammed and his men will be made much easier when they are equipped with necessary platforms including patrol vehicles, not leaving out the welfare of men of the sector to further enhance their performance.