Change Of Baton As Compt Jaiyeoba Assumes Duty At Apapa Customs Command
By Chinonye Anyatonwu
An official change of baton took place at the Apapa command of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS), when the new Area Controller, Comptroller Babajide A Jaiyeoba, on Tuesday assumed duty as the new Customs Area Controller of the premier Customs command.
Compt. Jaiyeoba was the former Controller of Oyo/Osun command of Nigeria Customs Service.
He took over from ACG Auwal Baba Mohammed who was recently promoted and transferred to Abuja.
In his maiden speech after taking over, Jaiyeoba expressed his preparedness for the task ahead, assuring of his resolve to surpass the revenue target set for the command by the Customs management.
In his words, “I am not afraid of challenges, I understand that it is not going to be easy but I am not one to run from challenges. We will work as a team and we will try and improve on achievements already made by my predecessors.”
”If we get it right, the country will be better, especially grappling with dwindling oil revenue. So I am ready to pick up the gantlet” he said.
He however charged officers and critical stakeholders of the command to join hands with him in order to have a successful tenure as he assures to run an open-door policy, Jaiyeoba also promised to facilitate trade and block revenue leakages.
Earlier in his speech, his predecessor, ACG Mohammed, expressed nostalgia for the eight months of his stay at the command, lauded officers and men of the command for supporting him to record an impressive revenue collection when he was in charge of the command.
ACG Mohammed disclosed that the command under his watch collected N676 billion in revenue to government coffers between January and August 2023.
He celebrated command’s highest monthly revenue of N136 billion in August and N10 billion collection in a single day, on the 3rd of August, 2023 being the highest monthly and daily collections in the history of the Nigeria Customs Service.
ACG Mohammed however solicited the same level of support and cooperation he enjoyed from the officers and other sister agencies for his successor who he expected to continue with the enviable operational success.
