A total of 18 officers, including seven Area Controllers in Lagos command were affected in the exercise which caught many of them unawares.
In the Lagos commands, Comptroller Othman Saleh from the Seme command has been moved to Tariff and Trade (T and T) at the Customs headquarters in Abuja while Egbudin Willy from Lilypond command replaces Othman.
Also, Isah T.M., who was in charge of T and T now takes over from Willy Egbudin at Lilypond command.
Others affected in the shake-up include Ukaigbe P.C., who has been transferred from Post Clearance Audit (PCA) in Zone ‘A’ to the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) command while Abubakar B now takes charge of PCA.
Similarly Ndalati G.G.M moved from MMIA to FCT. Also, Alali G.C has been redeployed to head the Ikorodu Command of the service while Gambo D.S is now in charge of Lagos Industrial.
Outside the Lagos commands of the service, Adesanya K.O. moved from CSS on promotion to Edo Delta command, while Controller of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara command. Mr. Akande Bamidele, has been move to Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom Command.
Maitama K.I. is now the Controller of Kogi, Kwara, Niger while Haruna M. moved from FCT to Ogun State command.
Legg Jack, A.E.; head PCA headquarters while Abbas M. has been drifted to head Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara command.
Kashim Ajiya now heads Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi command while Usman S.M. is in charge of Mechanic and Dada O.O has been moved to the Customs headquarters.
Finally,Okpe S. O. has been transferred from Edo, Delta command to Zone A headquarters.
Sources at the Seme border said, smugglers and importers who were hitherto carrying out their illegal activities unrestricted before Othman was posted to the command in September last year, became handicapped because of the logistics he put in place.
Othman, sources said, caused the smugglers sleepless nights by always stopping the movement of their cargoes from entering the country because they violated the Federal Government’s laws on import.
A security official who spoke with The Nation under the condition of anonymity said many cargoes were stopped by Othman from entering the country about two weeks ago because of what he called discrepancies in document.
When contacted, the National Cordinator,Trans Border Association of Nigeria (TBTAN), Alhaji Mikky Okunola confirmed the story.
Okunola said Othman prevented many cargoes from entering the country because the importers failed to meet government laws.
He said perpetrators of anti economic businesses in the area did not like Othman.
Okunola said many of the importers who engaged in shady businesses had problem with Othman because some of them thought they could pass the eagle eyes of the former Area Comptroller.
Othman, Okunola said, resumes office as early as 8.am and attends to every document submitted to his office for the release of cargo, and ensured that nobody was allowed to bring any goods into the country without following the Federal Government laws on imports and duty payable.
“Under his watch, the command implemented the federal government’s laws diligently. Unarguably, the command recorded unprecedented tightening of the border against the influx of prohibited items with full deployment of the available customs manpower and logistics in compliance with the government law,” Okunola said.
The Customs Public Relations officer of the command, Mr Ernest Olottah said Othman delivered on the core Customs responsibilities such as collecting and accounting for all revenue due to the government; preventing the smuggling of prohibited items and commodities into and out of the country; facilitating legitimate trade and promoting national security in the course of discharging his functions.
“As a well trained senior officer, he deployed tact, inter agency cooperation, improved customs community relation and necessary enforcement in achieving government’s objectives. He also promoted government’s diplomatic ties with Benin Republic through regular interface and cordial coexistence with his counterpart in the Benin Republic,” Olottah said.
