Comptroller Emmanuel Oshoba, has taken over the mantle of leadership of the Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, from Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) Babatunde Olomu pledging to sustain and improve on the legacies and achievements of his predecessor.
Speaking after taken over at the command in Lagos yesterday, Monday, 8th September, Oshoba commended the significant strides achieved by ACG Olomu in revenue generation and anti-smuggling pledging to break new records and lead with transparency and integrity.
He expressed his appreciation to the Comptroller General of Customs and his management team for the opportunity to serve at the command, just as he solicited the support and collaboration of stakeholders, to enable him succeed and justify the confidence repose on him by the Comptroller General.
“As a person, I live with a desire to improve on any environment I find myself. My work period here won’t be an exception. “I have demands to make from everyone in this room and all stakeholders who couldn’t make it here physically due to exigencies of our work and space constraints. I want to request that we renew our dedication and our shared vision for excellence. I solicit for maximum support from every one of you.
“As I step into this role, my first priority is to apply the three Ls- Look, Listen and Learn, I want to understand the heartbeat of this command, know the challenges and work together with everyone to surmount them. Please join me in this journey. As you did with my predecessor. do with me.
“Your ideas, your passion and your expertise are the foundation on which my service here shall be built. I am committed to fostering an environment where every voice is heard and valued.
“As you are all aware, we are currently positioned at a critical juncture in the ongoing ICT and modernization efforts within the Service. The world is changing rapidly and with change comes opportunities. Together, we will build on the gains of B’Odogwu and cause our workplace to evolve into an ecosystem of rapid innovation and excellence. I ask for your continued support to push the Unified Customs Management System to greater heights.
“The Authorized Economic Operator (AEO), Time Release Study (TRS), Advanced Ruling (AR) and other trade facilitation programs which puts NCS ahead of its peer’s customs administration in Africa shall be the thrust of my leadership here, ” he said.
Oshoba also urged the stakeholders, particularly clearing agents to uphold the principles of compliance and ensure unwavering adherence to all legal frameworks governing import, export and excise operations.
“I believe in the power of collaboration. No one succeeds alone and I am here to work alongside you, not just as a leader, but as a partner in our shared mission. We will face challenges, but we will tackle them together, with resilience and determination we will also celebrate our successes together, because every milestone we achieve will be a testament to our collective hard work and commitment, “he said.
Earlier, in his valedictory speech, ACG Olomu thanked the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi MFR and the management team for entrusting him with the leadership of the Apapa Command, which is the Service’s flagship command, just as he expressed appreciation to officers, stakeholders, and other government agencies for their support.
While highlighting the successes recorded by the command under his leadership, ACG Olomu announced that a total of N2. 3trillion was generated as revenue in year 2024, earning the command the award of the best command in revenue generation at the CGC’s conference. Also, the command got the award of the best command in trade facilitation and to cap it off, as the overall best controller of the year 2024.
He added that the command has so far this year, generated a total sum of N1,834,789,499,850.40 which represents over 60 percent of the command's N3trillion revenue target for 2025 and he is optimistic that his successor will build on the lead down legacy to surpass the command's N3trillion target.
The new ACG went further to state, “It is noteworthy to state that we did not just arrive there. We stayed focused and made improvement in our revenue generation hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly, to arrive at the outstanding accomplishments. We achieved a record-breaking single-day revenue production of N17.9 billion on June 19, 2024.
“Again, the command set another benchmark of N18.2 billion in daily revenue in October 2024. And furthermore, the daily revenue generation record of N18.9 billion was made in March 14, 2025. Consequently, for the month of August 2025, the command collected N214.9billion using the newly introduced B’Odogwu Unified Customs Management System, despite the technical issues and teetering problems we initially had.
In the area of Anti Smuggling, Olomu stated that for the 15 months he served at the command as CAC, the command made a total of 75 seizures of various items broken down to 62 Units of 40ft containers and 13 Units of 20ft containers. The seizures comprise of fake, expired and substandard medicaments, controlled drugs such as codeine syrup, tramadol, Indian hemp, and other items like used clothing, wood etc.
On stakeholders engagement, Olomu said, "I ran an open-door policy, ensured easy interaction with all our stakeholders. We have always interacted to address any impediment associated with trade in Apapa port. In addition to that, my telephone line was also readily available for information sharing and feedback with all stakeholders"
He called on the stakeholders to give his successor more support saying, "As Oliver Twist who always ask for more, I am asking that you do more than that for my successor who is also a distinguished gentleman officer with capability to take this command to greater heights.
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