ACG Abba-kura: Garland for a revolutionary * Behold the new ACG Customs headquarters Abuja

ACG Abba-kura: Garland for a revolutionary

Behold the new ACG Customs headquarters Abuja

(Report by Udeme Clement):

PROJECTS COMMISSIONING :
It was an epoch making event and most historic in the existence of Apapa Customs Command, since its creation many years ago, as the entire premises wears a decent look benefiting the status of Nigeria’s premier port.

The Zonal Coordinator in her grand entry to Apapa Command expressed great enthusiasm. She extolled the managerial competence and outstanding qualities of Abba-kura, the great revolutionary, who brought about the transformation of Apapa Command.

Her assertions: “the level of cleanliness at Apapa Command shows that Abba-kura is a decent Officer. Only a decent person can achieve what we are witnessing here today. Abba-kura has made the Service proud.

“This is not the Apapa I used to know with that ancient look. Today, Apapa Command is shining and looking new.”

BEHOLD THE NEW ACG :
The high point of the event was the commissioning of the Clinic and Gym put in place to cater for the health needs of Officers at Apapa formation. Another very exciting moment of the programme was the official announcement of Abba-kura, as the new ACG Customs headquarters, Abuja.

The news erupted a resounding round of applause in the conference room filled to capacity with Officers, maritime stakeholders and members of the Pen confraternity.

WHO THE CAP FITS !!!
Garland for a revolutionary.
Speaking further, the Zonal Coordinator described the elevation of Abba-kura to ACG, as promotion well-deserved, a career prospect achieved by merit and dint of hard work.

She applauded him on exemplary team leadership skills, operational efficiency, resourcefulness, resilience, managerial competence and uncompromising manner of carrying out his statutory functions, especially in revenue collection, trade facing and anti-smuggling drive.

REVENUE COLLECTION :
Apapa Command under the leadership of Abba-kura recorded unprecedented revenue collection, with a whopping sum of N518.1 billion in 2020 fiscal year. The amount generated reflects a significant increase of N94.4 billion, which is 22.3 percent increase when compared to N423.6 billion realised in 2019.

Giving credence to the huge revenue generation by Apapa Command, the Zonal Coordinator, informed, “We surpassed our revenue target in 2020. Customs in Zone ‘A’ generated about 80 percent and the bulk of the revenue came from Apapa Command.

“So, the Gym will give Officers fitness and mental alertness to do their work effectively. When I was at Apapa Command in 1998, sports were introduced and today we are commissioning a Gym for Officers.
I commend the hard working officers for cooperating and supporting Abba-kura to achieve this.

“Apapa as a Command does not have many complaints because the Area Controller took proactive measures to ensure the right decorum.

“My advice is, always follow the right procedures. Once you do that, you will never go wrong, because you will arrive at the desired results. The moment you deviate from the right procedures, you can run into serious crisis”.

ANTI-SMUGGLING FEATS:
Just recently, Abba-kura and his team intercepted 20ft container laden with 162 sacks of pangolin scales weighing 8,800 kg, 57 sacks of mixed endangered species of various sizes, such as Ivory/animal horns and Lion bones destined for Haiphong, Vietnam.

The container processed for export was falsely declared as Furniture Components by the owner, in an attempt to evade arrest, but the eagle-eye of Officers uncovered it.

Also, the Command made seizures of 318 cargoes with Duty Paid Value (DPV), of over N21.1billion from January to December 2020, which is far greater than 112 seizures with DPV of N12.5billion recorded the same period in 2019.
Most spectacular among the seizures include 133 containers of fake pharmaceutical products.

TRADE FACILITATION :
The Command made impressive performance in trade facilitation with
over N104.3 billion recorded in export trade in 2020. The boost in export trade rose from 262,095 metric tons in 2019, to 1,311,365 metric tons in 2020, with Free on Board (FOB) value increasing from $132,760,512.94 million to $340,884,102.99 million.

CAPACITY BUILDING:
Our Correspondent gathered that Officers of Apapa Command under the watch of Abba-kura benefitted from various training and retraining programmes designed to enhance their skills on the job.

BETWEEN ACG Ekekezie and Abba-kura :
Our Correspondent, on a recent visit to Customs Zonal office in Lagos, observed something very unique and similar about ACG Ekekezie and Abba-kura. Both Officers are exemplary team leaders. Maintaining a decent and conducive working ambience is another thing common between ACG Ekekezie and Abba-kura.

At present, the Zonal office looks like a world Class corporate entity, all thanks to the ingenuity of ACG Ekekezie.
In fact, the same level of decency at the Zonal office is completely replicated at Apapa Command.

From left, the Zonal Publc Relations Officer ,PRO, N. Nwala, the PRO of Apapa Command, Usman Abubakar (third), during the visit :