Garba, newly appointed controller of FOU moves to curb smuggling in Lagos area
Worried by the increasing rate of smuggling activities in the Lagos area, Mohammed Garba, newly appointed Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ has said that his office will not leave any stone unturned till it brings down the activities of smugglers in the area.
According to him, FOU under his control will be committed to delivery community friendly services that include fight against smuggling and increased revenue generation for the federal government.
Speaking in Lagos at the weekend during his maiden press briefing, Garba said that his command will solidify the existing structure designed to fight smuggling and also redeploy more knowledgeable officers to critical and problem areas where smuggling activities have been on the rise.
“We Customs officers are professionals and our core responsibility is to fight smuggling of contraband and fake goods into Nigerian market. Therefore, we at FOU will restructure and reinforce our enforcement arm especially in areas identified as weak points,” he said.
Stating that the Lagos area, which is the Zone A is very significant to international trade in Nigeria as about 70 percent of Customs generated revenue come from the zone, Garba said that the large volume of economic activities in the zone also results to a good number of trade related problems such as smuggling.
“In line with the mandate of this administration, we would not condoled illegalities and we will be out to support genuine importers and exporters to increase government revenue through import and excise duties, earn foreign exchange and create employment for Nigerians.
Garba holds bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria before proceeding to obtain Masters Degree in Public Administration from Bayero University Kano.
He joined the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in 1988 as a superintendent and rose to the Comptroller position in 2015. Before then, he worked in the various formations including Onne Area 11 Port Harcourt, Lilipond command, Tin-Can Island Port command, Ogun Area Command before he was redeployed to the Zone A headquarters and others.
Garba attended many course locally and internationally on Valuation and Modernisation. He was also a pioneer member of the modernisation process in the Service headquarters that translated to one of the Customs working tools, Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR). He is a member of several professional bodies and has won several awards.
Uzoamaka Anagor-Ewuzie