The South-West Zone of the Nigeria Customs Service has reaffirmed its commitment to utilizing available technological tools to enhance border control and combat smuggling, aiming to strengthen national security through effective border management.
Assistant Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service for the South-West Zone, Saidu Abba-Yusuf, made this statement during an appraisal visit to the Ogun II Command in Abeokuta, Ogun State. During his visit, he urged officers to uphold professionalism and steer clear of corruption.
“Efforts are ongoing to use technology to enhance our borders’ security and patrol. The CGC, Bashir Adeniyi, for the past year, has been very busy trying to coordinate. Apart from the border issue, even in the seaport – every one of our operations is being automated, likewise at the border station” he said
“You are quite aware that about last week or so, the CGC inspected an aircraft bought on behalf of the Nigeria Customs Service for patrol on the borders.
“We are all aware that the borders are porous, and the only way we can monitor those borders is by using modern technology, but before you use this modern technology, training and re-training have to be embarked on, which the service is actively doing. Acquiring that aircraft is part of the technology which the service has embarked on.
“I can tell anybody contemplating on bringing in arms or any illicit arms, ammunition and drugs into Nigeria should have a rethink because Nigeria Customs Service under the current leadership is very active and very effective in terms of intelligence gathering with other sister security agencies.”
Speaking on the Command’s performance under Comptroller Olusola Alade, the ACG said, “We just reviewed the performance of the Command a couple of hours ago. So far, up to August, the Command has been able to generate over N20bn billion, close to N21bn.
“When you compare it to the corresponding period last year, we had about N14billion. We are all aware of the economic situation in the country and the exchange rate and all that. Even with that, the Command has been able to perform wonderfully well”.
In his welcome address, Alade expressed gratitude to Yusuf for his encouraging remarks and recognition of the Command’s efforts.
However, he took the opportunity to request additional accommodation for the officers and urged that the Command’s clinic be equipped with essential medical supplies to improve healthcare services.