Regardless of the ban on the importation of forty one items by the Federal Government,the Tincan lsland Port
Command collapsed every barrier and went ahead to rake in a whooping Two hundred and and eighty seven billion, six hundred and thirty-two million, nine hundred and twelve thousand, six hundred and sixty seven naira forty nine kobo(N287,632,912,667,49).This massive feat remains a clear evidence of the doggedness and professional ingenuity of the Command’s Area Controller, Comptroller Bashar Yusuf and his team. Besides, the Command’s set target for January-December 2017 according to it’s Public Relations Officer, Uche Ejesieme was three hundred and ten billion, two hundred and forty-seven million, three hundred and forty-six thousand, nine hundred and ninety naira, eighty-five kobo(N310,247,346,990.85).lf the plus and minus are carefully made, it means that twenty two billion, six hundred and fourteen million, four hundred and thirty-four thousand, three hundred and twenty-three naira, thirty six kobo(N22,614,434,323,36) translating to 92.71% was the only difference expected of the command to hit the redline which in no doubt would have been surpassed if not the ban on forty one items during the period under review, yet, it is first of such feat on the score card of the Command.
Nevertheless, in his quest to reposition the command, the Customs Area Controller embarked on different reforms in the entire operational value chain which in the end resulted in massive seizures which remarkably has never been recorded in the history of the command, this achievement would have been a mirage if not for the diligence of the officers and men of the command and above all, the patriotism and professional ingenuity of the Command’s Area Controller who incidentally is an lCT expert and of truism, it is based on his intelligence strategies that the command was able to record an all-time impressive seizure of two thousand and ten (2010) Pump Action Riffles during the period under reference and those massive seizures informed the media address by the Comptroller General of Customs, Col.Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd.) on three occasions.
ln View with the command priority on capacity building, as key element in 21st Century Customs Operation, the Customs Area Controller took a giant step by embarking on a construction of an ICT Training Centre, with 30 workstations fully connected, to serve the training needs of officers and men as well as other critical stakeholders . A total number of nine hundred and fifty-eight(958) officers and stakeholders have so far benefited from the training facility as they trained in areas relevant to their operations, and the Maritime Journalists are also among the beneficiaries.
ln the same vein, a State of the Art Clinic is currently operational at the command, taking care of the medical needs of both officers and other public. The clinic is fully equipped with male and female wards with mini pharmacy. These facility was eventually commissioned by the Comptroller General of Customs, Col.Hameed lbrahim Ali (Rtd.), who heartily eulogized the Customs Area Controller for his exceptional leadership qualities.
Furthermore, the command is indeed poised to maintaining its public relations policy having been consistent in ‘Stakeholders Engagement’, this in no doubt has been domesticated and ritualistically demonstrated through interceptions and subsequent handing over of intercepted regulated consignments to the appropriate Agencies for further legal action. Specifically, the command handed over ten (10)40ft.containers of both substandard, unwholesome/regulated pharmaceuticals to NAFDAC and NDLEA respectively on several occasions during the period under review.
Undoubtedly, the command has diligently consolidated the upsurge in revenue generation by skillfully leveraging on the recent Executive blueprint on the Ease of Doing Business in very common period of time and it is indeed paying -off. The sum total of the revenue generated from January to December 2017 without an iota of doubt would have tripled if not for the exclusion of the forty one items by the Federal Government, and by dint of hard work the command has kept achieving massive feats.
Nevertheless, the operational template of the command has been projected in such a way to align with the ideology of the Comptroller General and his Management as it plans to consolidate on the achievements already recorded in 2015 to 2017.The command will in no doubt seek to create proactive measures leveraging on its comparative advantage in the application of ICT for the best practices as it already parades the highest number of seasoned officers and because of the ingenuity of the man at the helm of affairs at the command, Comptroller Bashar Yusuf who is poised in training and retraining of officers for maximum performance there is indeed a reasonable prospect that the command will record jaw-dropping achievements in 2018.
