The Customs Area Controllers in the nation’s leading ports; Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports, Comptroller Abubakar Bashir (Apapa) and Comptroller Musa Baba Abdullahi (Tin Can) have bagged awards of excellence from the World Customs Organization (WCO).
According to the World Customs body, the awards are in recognition of their remarkable performances in the 2018 fiscal year.
The awards were presented to them by the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Col. Hammed Ali (Rtd.) at the International Customs Day, in Abuja.
Recall that in 2018, Customs recorded massive seizures as officers distinguished themselves with unparalleled integrity and patriotism at Apapa and Tin Can ports.
The case of the amiable Area Controller at the nation’s foremost port, Apapa Port, CAC Abubakar Bashir, officers under his leadership displayed high degree of national interest, swinging into the action of saving lives and rejecting mouth-watering bribe of N150 million in dollars for the first time in the history of NCS. In that incident, 40 containers of Tramadol worth N7.3billion in duty paid value were seized in Apapa.
In another news making seizure, two helicopters which were declared as cashewnuts for export were seized by Apapa Customs under Compt. Bashir’s watch.
This success he attributed to the vigilance and intelligence gathering within the system, as well as information from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), which is a strong ally of the Customs.
Similarly, the Tin Can Port also recorded massive seizures of tramadol even as the port which was the beehive of illegal arms imports in 2017 became a no-go area for such shady deals.
