CONMMEP PAYS COURTESY CALL ON COMPT. ONYEKA
*** Pledges continuous collaboration
The Congress of Nigerian Maritime Media Practitioners (CONMMEP) a Maritime Journalists association that has the mantra of Accuracy and Justice as its motto, on Thursday, paid a courtesy call on the Customs Area Controller, Tin Can Command, Comptroller Frank Okechukwu Onyeka.
The nine executive members of the association led by its president, Alhaji Tunde Umar-Daniah, met with the CAC and his team at the newly renovated conference room of the Command. The meeting commenced after the initial protocol of introduction of both sides.
The president of CONMMEP used the opportunity presented by the visit to speak generally on his pedigree, his antecedents and performance so far. President Umar-Daniah went down memory lane and spoke about Comptroller Onyeka’s performance as a valuation officer at the Tin Can Island Port Command and his splendid performance that earned him the very first officer of the month award under Comptroller Imam Baba at the Port Harcourt Area 1 Command, Onne, as the Gate Officer.
He also appreciated the record of Comptroller Onyeka’s performance at the premier Port Command, Apapa, where he served as the Officer-in-charge of Gate. The then Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Onyeka, helped the Command to plug revenue leakages achieve its record revenue generation heights.
While also adding that many of Comptroller Onyeka’s lieutenants are officers of high pedigree who have been personally known to him for years, the CONMMEP President praised the collective efforts of all officers at the Command for the record revenue generated over the past three months that Comptroller Onyeka took charge of the Command’s administration. He positively assessed the CAC’S policy of Stakeholders’ engagement including hosting Muslims for IFTAR during the Ramadan.
The President of CONMMEP stated that the major reasons for the visit are to interact with the officers at the Command, extend hands of fellowship and help the Comptroller in achieving his mandate as dictated by the Customs act 2023. He noted that the association was ready to partner with the Command in critical areas, and assured him of cooperation and support.
Alhaji Tunde Umar-Daniah also spoke about some of the recent projects that CONMMEP had embarked upon including a Workshop with the theme: Port Community Engagement, Building Sustainable Development. He also spoke about the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) that the association is holding later in the month and also stated that there is a proposed training programme embeded in it as he solicits for the Command’s support.
Comptroller Onyeka while responding to the presentation by the CONMMEP president informed everybody that the Command has set a record of revenue generation in the first quarter of 2025 with a total of Three Hundred and Forty Seven Billion, Nine Hundred and Thirty Five Million, Six Hundred and Seventy Two Thousand, Four Hundred and Seventy Six Naira (₦347,935,672,476.00) only from January to March, this is much higher than the Three hundred and Four Billion (N304,000,000,000.00) only generated in the corresponding period of 2024.
Comptroller Onyeka thanked the association for the visit and promised to support CONMMEP. The CAC praised the professional conduct of all members of the association within and outside the industry. He urged that whatever the members of the association think is good to promote the functions of the Command, will be welcome and totally appreciated. He added that members of the association have been in the forefront of objective view of all the Command’s activities and thanked them profoundly.
The CAC added that he is not by any means going to take the support that he is getting from CONMMEP and its members for granted, he noted that CONMMEP is the very first journalists’ association to be hosted at the newly renovated conference room. “I am so appreciative of all the support that I have been getting so far from your association, but like Oliver Twist, I shall continue to ask for more of it”.
