Cool headed, contented, respectful and a result-oriented officer, all can
best be used to pour encomiums on this Barrister in Customs uniform who has been weather-beaten in the course of national assignment especially in the last eight years.
Yes, he is an all-round professional, whether in the area of Revenue generation or anti-smuggling operations as well as general administration, he stands out. Having known this gentleman for more than two decades, he has always looked unperturbed during the time of storm or any official challenges; in the long run, the Almighty has always shown up for him.
Assistant Comptroller General Alajogun fsi, has no doubt superintended over very sensitive Commands, which may not be termed as ‘juicy’ Customs formation but he ended up squeezing out water from the rock, even where landmines were laid for him.
Incidentally, the most challenging aspect of his national service could be said to be in the last dispensation. He was not in the good books of those calling shots, even though, he had two deployments as an Area Controller.
At the Edo/Delta Command, as ‘dry ‘as it was, he was able to raise the highest revenue in that Command at the time; he raised staff morale, and initiated the process of Customs participating in the documentation of the out flow volume of petroleum products, in conjunction with the NNPC, Navy and other security Agencies. Hitherto, Customs was not in the matrix.
Inspite of the insecurity in the Niger Delta, he was networking with Importers and Agents to see how vessels could be attracted to the Warri port, and to a great extent, most Eastern traders had a change of heart to patronising the seaport.
Bad ‘belle’ from the former management who lined up a trumped up charge that his Command was not proactive in curtailing the violent movement and the damage of the Aduwawa-Benin Customs warehouse gate by the EndSARS activists. This development caused his deployment to Gwagwalada where he spent another two years before he was again reluctantly dispatched to Adamawa/Taraba Command as Area Controller. They also continued their witch-hunt until God showed up again.
Here, he is standing tall as the Comptroller General recommended his elevation to the rank of an Assistant Comptroller General. Will he add value? Yes; discipline, fear of God, transparency in Customs administration will be his guiding principles, as he sits tight at the headquarters to make the crooked rules straight.
Alajogun is an anti-corruption Czar; and this attribute will come to bear, in the government agency moving forward.
The wrong perception of the Service in some quarters will henceforth, be a thing of the past as the new ACG Headquarters aligns with the vision of the Comptroller General to give the Customs a deserved Image which may have eluded it for quite sometime.