In line with the policy thrust of the Comptroller General of Customs, with a focus on Collaboration and Cooperation, I have dedicated my last three months to collaborating, consolidating, synergizing, and engaging with critical stakeholders within and outside the country for seamless and legitimate trade while enforcing government fiscal policies against smuggling activities. Within the state, I took my time to visit traditional institutions and heads of security agencies Such as NPF, NIS, NDLEA, including DSS, and other sister agencies for us to be on the same page. Outside the state and the country, I visited the Benin Republic Police and Benin Republic Customs Controller in charge of the Igolo-Idiroko border to strengthen security, improving trade facilitation through the Idiroko border corridor, economic relations between Nigeria and Benin Republic not only for our bilateral ties but for the entire region as both nations continued to priorities peace, security at our shared border. The renewed commitment by both Customs Administration signals a continued safe trade environment along the Nigeria-Benin border for all legitimate traders
This effort was followed up on March 4th to be precise for a strategic meeting and engagement with the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Clearing Agents, Youth/Student Forums, and Association in other to identify the bottlenecks hindering legitimate trade across Igolo-Idiroko border and to come up with practical solutions to address challenges hindering the smooth trade between Nigeria and Benin Republic The courtesy visit along with stakeholders’ engagement and series of meetings provided an opportunity to identify barriers which prompted me to visit Regional Director of Plateau Customs in Porto-Novo, Benin Republic in other to nib the challenges identified during chains of meetings on the bud. Gentlemen of the press, all these efforts, and measures put in place will very soon yield positive results that will result in the revival and resurgence of activities at the Igolo-idiroko border to its former state as we are on top of the situation.
REVENUE GENERATION
During this period under review, the Command collected a total sum of Forty-Three Million, Four Hundred and Twelve Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety-Four Naira (N43, 412,794.00) from import duty and auction sales of petroleum products (PMS) intercepted during anti-smuggling operations. I would like to reiterate that the revenue activity of the command comprises the importation and exportation of legitimate goods, goods under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS), and the assessment of merchandise in baggage. This amount surpasses what was generated same period last year 2024 with Seven Million six hundred and six thousand two hundred and thirty-two Naira (N7, 606,232.00)
ANTI-SMUGGLING ACTIVITIES
The relentless anti-smuggling campaign of the Command has continued to improve our seizure profile. The Command’s intensive and intelligence-based anti-smuggling operations resulted in 161 seizures. These include: 3 Single barrel long Guns. 4 packets of 25 cartridges (100 pieces of Cartridges)150 Sacks of Indian hemp of various sizes 10 cartons of Amoxicillin capsules 7, 242 Bags of Foreign Parboiled Rice (Just yesterday we seized 900 bags of rice in single) 4 Used vehicles 20 Bags of imported Sugar 20 Bags Flour Powder 50 Bags of POP Cement 22 Vehicles (means of conveyance) 534 Cannabis Sativa of Booklet sizes 239 Cannabis Sativa of bread Sizes 2,926 Cannabis Sativa of coconut Sizes 2 Sacks of Cowries 12 cartons of Ghana Soap843 pieces of Pneumatics used tyres535 kegs of PMS of 25 liters each (13,375 liters) Some of the seized aforementioned Cannabis Sativa has since been handed over to Commander NDLEA in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the Capital, and the remaining parcels will be handed over to the representative of the State Commander here today The seizures were made at different locations such as Abeokuta axis, Ilaro axis, and Ipokia/Idiroko axis among others.
The cumulative duty paid value (DPV) for all the above seizures amounted to Three Hundred and Fourteen Million Fifty-Seven Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixteen Naira (N 314, 057,716)
TRADE FACILITATION
The Command is committed to facilitating legitimate trade. We value the business community and their contribution to the economy of the nation. We assure them of our continuous support in all aspects of their trading activities. However, we urge them to avoid any form of illicit trade that could adversely affect the economy and tarnish their reputation. Within the period under review, the command under my leadership has processed 329.6 metric tonnes of export consignments with a Free Board Value of Two Hundred and Sixty Six Million Nine Hundred and Sixty Six Thousand Six Hundred and Forty-Two Naira (N 266,966,642 from January to March 2025.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
You will recall that the Comptroller General of Customs recently launched its ambitious plan Tagged “Customs Cares. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program- pivotal initiatives promising to ignite transformative change and foster sustainable development in communities. Aside from the proactive operations in checking illicit trade in Idiroko Border, the Command also engages in non-kinetic activities whose objective is to make the area conducive for economic activities to thrive. The Festival of Art for Economic Development with the theme “Cross-Border Trade: What it is and Why it Matters. The program, which is part of the Command’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), was a long-week program (8-15th February 2025). Powered by Nigeria Customs Service, Ogun 1 Command.
Its objective is to promote trade economy development and cross-border cooperation by using art as a driving tool. The participants, who were Lecturers, Artisans, Art promoters, secondary school students, and stakeholders, were given the leverage to exhibit their talents. The Command also used the avenue to educate the participants on the activities of Customs in Ogun State, the benefits of legitimate trade, and the dangers inherent in smuggling activities
CONCLUSION
Comptroller Shuaibu reassure the legitimate business communities of its maximum cooperation and support in trade facilitation. You are free to contact us for any trade-related information, inquiries, or complaints. May I also use this avenue to warn criminal elements in the State to steer clear of smuggling activities? The Command remained resolute in its mandate of suppression of smuggling and other illicit activities inimical to the economic growth of our great country, Nigeria. We implore well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians to cooperate with us by providing useful information against economic sabotage for the sake of our dear nation’s development. The Command will continue to maintain good community relations with the Traditional Rulers, Community leaders, the Youths, etc. We are also committed to maintaining synergy with our sister agencies across the State. We appreciate the collaboration and cooperation of everyone which has created peaceful coexistence in the Communities and their environs.
