CGC Adeniyi Commissions COWA Operational Office, Senior Officers’ Mess At Seme

CGC Adeniyi Commissions COWA Operational Office, Senior Officers’ Mess At Seme

By Jerry Aguigbo

Nigeria Customs Service, Seme Command leveraging on CGC Wale Adeniyi’s presence at the launch and deployment of the SIGMAT Platform between Nigeria and Benin Republic, on Monday commissioned some epoch making projects to enhance operational efficiency of officers at the border Command. An operational office for Customs Wives Association (COWA)Seme Chapter, a brand new officers’ Mess and a gym to keep officers and Men in shape, were commissioned by the Customs henchman, Comptroller Bashir Adewale Adeniyi.

Welcoming the CGC to the commissioning, was the Seme Area Controller, Dr Ben Oramalugo who spoke glowingly about the CGC and the importance of the projects built to add impetus and operational efficiency to the officers at Seme Customs.

While welcoming the CGC to the ancient town of Badagry, Dr Oramalugo said
the commissioning of newly renovated officers Mess, a gym house, and a state of the art office complex for the Customs Officer’s Wives Association, (COWA) at the Seme Area Command was strategic and consistent with what the CGC stands for.

His words:”This is a landmark event for our command, and we are deeply honoured to have the Controller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi to personally grace this occasion, to commission this remarkable project.”

Oramalugo said the CGC’s presence is a testament to his unwavering commitment to the welfare of officers and progress of Nigeria Customs Service.

“I on behalf of the entire Seme Command, say a resounding thank you. Today’s event is more than the unveiling of physical structures. It is a celebration of our resolved commitment to teamwork, dedication, and the shared vision of Nigeria Customs Service under the leadership of CGC Adeniyi.

To create an enabling environment for our officers and families, the renovated offices may stand as a symbol of our commitment to improving the welfare and morale of our personnel, providing more conducive space for realization, camaraderie, and professional bonding.”

Continuing, Oramalugo said, “similarly, the new COWA office complex represents our recognition of the invaluable contribution of the Customs Wives Association in supporting our officers’, fostering community development and promoting the well-being of families within the Seme Area Command.”

According to him, the journey to this moment has been of collective effort.
He commend the officers and men of Seme Command for their dedication to duties which have created the foundation for achievement like today. “I want to inform my CGC that I have been lucky and I have the grace to say that I have very competent Customs officers working with me. And because that competence has helped me to achieve all the humongous things that I have done in this command.”

He used the opportunity to thank them and I pray and wish that they will continue to do things that are good. “We are propagating Trade facilitation and suppression of smuggling, this has not only helped our command but also contributed to national development.”

The Area Controller reeled out his Command’s scorecard from January to April 2025. The command, he disclosed, generated a sum of N2,883,454,454,553. In terms of exports, the command produced over N184,000 metric tons of export goods, valued at over N36 billion. The anti-smuggling fight has resulted in many arrests and seizures with a duty-paid value of N800 million, a feat that underscores the Seme Command’s commitment to excellence and zero tolerance to smuggling.

“As you are aware, about two days ago, I held a press conference where I showcased our seizures, including currencies and other uncustomed goods like cannabis and hard drugs, fake pharmaceutical products. I am aware that all these uncustomed goods affect our nation in a very critical manner. I am coming here with historical knowledge of what fake pharmaceutical products have done to the Nigerian state.

For example, in 1989, 180 children died in Kano because of the presence of ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol is an odorless substance that is used in manufacturing cigarettes and dyes. In 2022, 66 people died in Gambia because of fake pharmaceutical products.

In 2019, in Jos, 47 children died because of ethylene glycol. So I have sworn within myself that I would never leave to see fake pharmaceutical products entering our territory. When I was in Kebbi, I seized drugs that Buba Marwa had to give me an award as an ambassador of the fight against drugs.”

He added that in Oyo, he seized fake pharmaceutical products worth about 1.2 billion and the Oba even commanded him for the wonderful job he and his officers did.

“To our members of COWA, I send my heartfelt appreciation, especially my wife, my beautiful wife and hardworking wife, for standing by me through some sleepless nights.

So to be a Controller, you must be a great warrior. Your tireless efforts in community engagement, empowerment programs and support for our officer families have been instrumental in bringing this powerful complex to reality. This new facility will undoubtedly enhance our capacity to carry out your noble initiative and I am confident it will serve as a hub for innovation and positive impact in our border community.

He commended other sister security agencies, for their synergy with the Nigeria Customs Service, which he confirmed has strengthened its resolve to secure the borders and maintain peace in the region. “I want to humbly inform our CGC that I have a very robust relationship with the stakeholders, especially our sister agencies and the clearing agents. When I came here, the meeting between security agents and Customs stopped about seven years ago.

I had to reestablish that very important meeting and we started having meetings here again. With that meeting, we now agreed to build on synergy and I used that meeting to tell them that this is Abidjan corridor, a leadway to the French speaking countries. Any bad behavior you put on the road, you are telling the Nigeria story negatively. ”

” To the Comptroller General, your visionary leadership has been the driving force behind the modernization and transformation of Nigeria Customs Service.

We have never had it so good like now. We knew where we were before you came here, but you have changed everything. We now have a humane, hard-working Comptroller General.

A Comptroller General you can call on the phone, he will pick your call and answer you. A Comptroller General you can send a text, he will reply to you. A Comptroller General that is humane and kind.
Customs now is no longer whom you know, but what you know. You can see Area comptrollers from Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Cross River, others, scattered everywhere. Imagine me, an Igbo man, posted to Oyo as a controller, the home state of the CGC.

Furthermore he said the projects being commissioned today are a result of the effort the CGC has put in redirecting the affairs of the Service.
“The project you are to commission today is a direct reflection of your emphasis on officers welfare and operational excellence. We are immensely grateful for your guidance and support. As we unveil these facilities, I urge all of you to see them as tools to enhance our service delivery.

May the renovated offices be a place where we forge stronger bonds and renew our commitment to the core mandate of the Nigeria Customs Service. May the echo of your complaints be a beacon of hope in empowering our families and communities. Together, we must continue to uphold the values of integrity, professionalism, and discipline in all our endeavors.

Also giving her remarks, the Chairman of COWA, Seme Chapter, Mrs Oramalugo who was visibly elated, thanked the CGC, the Controller and the National Chairman COWA, Mrs Kikelomo Adeniyi for giving the Chapter this office Complex. She praised the Chairman for her tireless efforts to make COWA an envy of all.

On his own, the Customs Comptroller General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, while Commissioning the projects said,
“I am indeed very proud of you, Dr. Oramalugo, the thing about what you said, giving equal opportunity to everybody and ensuring that fairness drives our decisions and our strategic choices and that we give merits in everything we do, has been my primary motivating factor. I also see myself as a product of merits, I see myself as a product of fairness and I must say that I have enjoyed the grace of God.

And when that happens, you really owe God that obligation to be fair to everybody and to ensure that you give merits a chance in what you do. That has been my motivating factor. So irrespective of where you come from, whether your forefathers were among those who came to Badagry in 1752 or not, if we find you very, very capable of being here, we will send you here.”

“So let me not speak from history. Let me pick it up from geography. And that is the strategic location of Seme, which has been like that since 1914 after the amalgamation of north and southern Nigeria.

If you delve further into how important the strategic location would be, you all know that small lagoon across where we have the bridge in Gbaji. Just a few meters outside it, to the right of it, was where we established the first Customs post in Nigeria. History has it that the Hawk Sentinel, that’s the name of the vessel, first berthed there.

And that was where we have the first sets of customs officers who were there to monitor and collect duties of coast-wide trade. There was nothing like an Apapa port. There was nothing like the Tincan port or whatever.

And it was because the kind of vessels that were coming are those ones that can only approach us through the lagoon. And so historically, the ecosystem that we have around Seme has been a very historical milestone for us in Nigeria. Earlier today, I was at the ECOWAS joint border post where we did the technical launch of the SIGMAT program, which was an attempt by the customs administration of the two countries, Nigeria and Benin, mid-wifed and guided by ECOWAS Secretariat, to provide a platform for trade, transit trade, import and export trade between various countries.

And so in the future, we will be talking of a command that we should be proud of and manage international trade that is technology-driven. So it’s going to represent a new watershed in history. It is going to change the narrative of cross-border trade.

And if we still go back to history, where we stand now, since the late 80s, it used to serve as the Customs Area Controller’s Office. So many generations of customs officers, Area Controllers have passed through this building, and they have managed trade in a very analogue manner. People come from across, they declare, they go to baggage, we do assessments, they pay duty, they go.

Some don’t, they go through the various Creeks behind us, or they go into the various bushes around Afar Owode, and then our patrols are set up. That has been the traditional way in which the Customs is doing its job. Now things are going to change with a new orientation, with a new approach.

“And we are indeed very happy that at this point in time, our wives also find it necessary to give us a helping hands, so that we can bring the desired changes, bring fresh initiatives into the way we do our things. I want to start by acknowledging the tremendous work done by COWA. I must acknowledge my wife, in absentia, she’s not here, Mrs. kikelomo Adeniyi , for the wonderful job that she has been doing in the Customs Officers’ Wives Association.

Using it as a vehicle to mobilize our wives, providing a rallying force, and giving us the emotional support that we needed to function as efficient Customs Officers. In a few days, we will be inviting all of you to Abuja, to celebrate the graduation of the first set of Customs Officers’ Wives, students who are admitted into our Skills Acquisition Centers. They have been undergoing training, different aspects.

The Center was commissioned by her Excellency, the First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, who has also been a very strong pillar of support. And it is so very delightful to see our wives who have been trained in various skills, bread making, hairdressing, computer, running of business centers, and all various skills in this place. We will be witnessing the graduations of the students on Thursday, and we are so very delighted that they have been our useful, very, very invaluable ambassadors.

Last month, Customs CARES, which is our Corporate Social Responsibility Program, berthed in Zone A, Lagos, after the launch, during the last quarter. And part of what we do is to support our various communities using the SDG goals as our long path, education, health, creative economy, skills acquisitions, and all of that. So I’m therefore very, very delighted that here in Seme, the Customs Officers’ Wives Association has found it necessary to have this modern office that will coordinate the activities and serve as the rallying point for all our Customs Officers and for all the wives of Customs Officers in this place.

“Madam, I congratulate you for this wonderful edifice. I hope and I pray that you will have all the wherewithals, all the resources, all the innovative ideas that will help you to empower your members, and of course, empower the communities that you serve. I want to promise that all the assistance that you will need, your loving husband would be willing to provide them.

And if there are things that those of us who do not love you as your husband loves you, we will be able to provide them right from our headquarters in Abuja. And for the other projects, the gym, I’m indeed very, very delighted that the CAC has taken the initiative in ensuring that we have these projects working well. There are a number of welfare projects that Customs has started in this command.

If you look towards this direction, you will see that this is meant to be an upgrade of the long tennis hall that we had in this place. We are also building a five-a-side play pitch somewhere around this place, in addition to the officers’ mess facilities that have been put in place by the command. So it’s an exciting time for Customs Officers, their families, and also members of other agencies of government that are working in Seme.”

All of these facilities, he confirmed will be open to all, so as to strive to keep a healthy life, a good balance between social lives and official commitments.

“Most of you spend your nights and all your time around these border stations. So you have the opportunity to ensure that you exercise daily and you keep a healthy life. Once again, I commend the Comptroller.

Controller Oramalugo has never disappointed in all the assignments I have given him. I first met him when he was Customs Area Comptroller in Kebbi. I was not the CG then but I was following the remarkable feats he was having.

When you listen to Customs Duty, of course I still find time to listen to Customs Duty every Monday, you can easily see the track record of achievements of the Comptroller. When I became the CG, I did not hesitate that I needed to get him into a more strategic command, and that explains why he was deployed to Oyo. Much later, when there was a vacancy here, I brought him here.

What this shows is that my stakeholders, including the traditional ruler of my place, talks about his performance, his ability to relate with his community, his immediate environment. This is a lesson for the rest of us,” he said.

Emphasizing the importance of High performance and the place of merit in his administration, Adeniyi explains:
“You don’t need to know me. You don’t need to know anybody outside the service. When we see your track record, it speaks for you more than anybody can speak for you.

When we see your performance, it speaks eloquently about what you can do, more than any telephone call or whatever we do for you. If you’re preparing for promotion, make sure that you prepare very well and you do it well. I need you to know that not all who are eligible for promotion can be promoted because of the pyramid rule.

There are 1,000 spaces for two-star officers. By the time you get to three-star, the number reduces. By the time you get to superintendent, the number reduces further because in any organization, it must be a pyramid.

So there is no magic to it. When there are promotion exams, prepare well for it. The best will be most eligible and they will be promoted.

I added something to it. In the last deployment we did for the promotion of new controllers, my DCG here can bear witness. What we did was that we took the results of the promotion exams from Deputy Controller to Controller.

When you take these exams, it should count for something. We should not give you the same assignment with somebody who came 50th because he knows somebody. So we just took it from number one.

Number one, who came first? Which is the most strategic of our posts? Go to this place. Who came second? Which one is next in terms of size, volume? Go to this place. That was what we did for the first 10.

As long as I remain a comptroller General, it is that merit that will continue to shape what we do. We also don’t sacrifice fairness. I have said so much, but I just want you people to understand that we can achieve a very healthy balance between fairness and merit and still get our system going,” Adeniyi buttressed.

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