CHANGE OF BATON: Yusuf Malanta Officially Takes Over At Apapa Customs, As Command Records N946billion in 23Months

By DAPO OLAWUNI

The new Area Controller of Apapa Command of Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Yusuf Malanta on Wednesday officially assumed duties after a handing over ceremony, even as the command announced that a whopping N946, 276, 543, 090. 05 was generated in the last twenty three months.

While taking over the reigns of the command from his predecessor, Comptroller Malanta assured that the revenue generation target of the command would improve under his watch, even as he read the riot Act to non-compliant traders.

While listing the achievements of the flagship command under his watch, the outgone area controller who is now promoted as Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) Headquarters, ACG Mohammed Abba-Kura, the command also recorded an improvement in its annual revenue collection from N404billion in 2018 to N423billion in 2019, and N518billion in 2020.

Abba-Kura also said the Apapa command under his watch, recorded an increase in seizures and its duty paid value from 97 in the year 2018 to 313 in year 2020 with N12.5billion increase in the Duty Paid Value (DPV)

Notable among the seizures were controlled drugs including; Tramadol, Codeine among others. All the seized items have now been forfeited to the Federal Government with Court Condemnation Order secured by the command.

Continuing, ACG Abba-Kura said the command transfered 1,147 overtime containers within 23months to the government warehouse at Ikorodu in conjuction with relevant stakeholders.

“Winning the World Customs Organization (WCO) certificate of Merit for the year 2020 for outstanding performance”

“Training of 404 senior officers of the Command in various aspect of customs Operations”

“Training of various Shareholders on the operation of ngeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS) so as to work on the same page. Resuscitation of the command gym center to a modern one that is equipped with air conditioners and training facilities for officers to remain fit and mentally alert”

“Construction of model clinic in the command to address medical emergencies for both officers and stakeholders. Renovation of the entire administrative block of the
command including equipping offices with air conditioners”

He said the achievements were recorded with the support of the officers of the command, even as he urged them to give the incoming CAC the maximum support to enable him consolidate on the existing structure.

“I am confident that, the incoming CAC who is not new to the Command would build on our legacies and even surpass it by the will of God” Abba-Kura stated

Responding, Compt Yusuf Malanta who was transferred from the PAAR Ruling Centre of the Customs Headquarters, said Apapa Command is a command where compliant traders are treated with dispatch on a fast track basis.

He assured that the command under his watch would continue to build on the existing legacies of his predecessor and ensure that trade facilitation on a honest and transparent import is enthroned.

Compt Malanta called for attitudinal change among officers, charging them to work harder than they have done before in order to achieve much more.

“The kind of assistance you have given the ACG when he was here, I solicit more than that. I am a team player, and I have come here to learn more, people keep saying I am well grounded in Apapa but thats not the issue, I left Apapa about six years ago, so I consider myself a brand new officer in Apapa”

“Please be mindful of your work, try and ensure that in whatever you are doing, you follow the right procedure, integrity is very important, you must do the right thing even when nobody is looking at you ”

He also solicited support of the stakeholders, saying that without them, the command wouldn’t have achieved so much. He charged the freight forwarders to encourage their importers to do more imports.