Onne Customs 30-Man Rank and File Barrack Excite Officers

Men and officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) are happy, clicking glasses and toasting to the transformation of the service as being carried out by Dr. Abdullahi Dikko Inde (CFR), their comptroller general, who on resumption keyed into the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Dikko or Mr. welfare as he is fondly called by industry stakeholders on resumption hinged his tenure in office on a six point agenda which borders on welfare; provision of decent accomodation for officers who hither to squated in shaby and dilapidated buildings with their families while carrying out their assigned duty to their father land, Nigeria; Decent work place and provision of free transpotation to and from work for officers who before his appointment go to work in public transport with their uniform squeez into a polythine bag for fear of  lashing from the public. Before the wave of transformation swept through the service, area controllers, equivalent to major generals in the army go to work also in public transport while suprindenting over their commands.
The Katsina state born customs comptroller general who grew through the ranks to his present position also promised the officers adequate training and retraining from rank and file to the top; provision of modern equipment to combat smuggling; seamless facilitation of trade and increased revenue into the coffers of the federal government; Consolidating the current e-customs effort through ASYCUDA in line with international best practices; Continued collaboration and partnership with stakeholders and International organisations and fostering understanding of the service in the eye of the general public using an intensified and a well coordinated public relations platform.
Officers and men of the service, particularly, those serving in the Onne Area II customs command are not immuned from all these promises as they acknowledged that indeed their comptroller general has achieved a lot of his avowed six-point agenda. The command under the supervision of comptroller mohammed mogaji are grateful that  30 houses for the rank and file officers situated in the Ebubu area of Onne in Rivers State have been built and furnished for them. Not only are the one bedroom and self contained flats furnished for the officers, a 250KVA generator; standard borehole; inter locking terrace; clinic which runs on a 24-hour basis with qualified medical personnel and perimeter fencing have all been provided at the soon to be commissioned barrack.
Elated by the development and thankful to Dr. Abdullahi (CFR), comptroller Mogaji explained that three coastal buses for transportation of the men and officers of the command was also provided just as Hilux vehicles were given to the command to enhance its operational activities.
This, perhaps led to the command collecting a total revenue of N85,084,452,311.99 while confisticating 17 containers and one truck of second hand tyres with a duty paid value (DPV) of N156,062,963.89 from smugglers between January to December, 2013.
According to Mogaji, Onne port command which comprises of federal lighter terminal (FLT), federal ocean terminal (FOT), Bonny out station and gas free zone achieved 64.9 percent with a recorded increase revenue of N7,493,411,452.52 over the total revenue of N77,591,040,859.47 collected same period in 2012.
He lamented that his command would have collected more but for the challenges which include low cargo imports throughout the year 2013. "Worthy to note that only two shipping lines, Maersk line and PIL maintain regular calls to the command. Bulk cargo such as rice and cement imports have dropped drastically, may be, in reaction to the backward integration policy of the federal government under which rice importation attracts a duty rate of ten percent with a levy of 100 percent as well as 0.5 percent Ecowas Trade Liberialization Scheme, known as ETLS, one percent comprehensive insurance supervission scheme (CISS) and seven percent surcharge. Waivers and exemptions of duties and taxes as granted by government also impact negatively on the revenue profile of the command", Mogaji regreted.
In the area of inter governmental relationship, the command is not relenting as personnel of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (Nimasa), Nigerian Navy(NN) and other government agencies attest to the splendid coordination with men and officers of Onne area II customs command. Particularly youths of the host community noted that they now assist the customs in the area of information in order to combat smuggling. "Since this present controller came in, he met with us, educated us in many areas, and since then we have been good landlords to all", John Dangogo stated.
"Surfice to state that the achievements in the command can only be attributed to the managerial prowess of the CGC, Dr. Dikko Inde Abdullahi CFR) which hasd directed a new tempo and determination for the achievement to all officers of the service. The officers and men of the command will remain eternally grateful to the CGCfor his human capacity building efforts, good welfare packages, supply of generating sets, building 30-man rank and file block, barrack rehabilitation, borehole drilling and access roads to Onne customs barracks, Ebubu. We can only pledge our absolute loyalty and commitment to the goals and aspirations of the CGC for our service and the nation in general", comptroller Mogaji pledged.