COMPT BASHIR ABDULLAHI BALOGUN:
HE CAME, HE SAW & HE CONQUERED
By Timothy Paul Okorocha
If there is one anti-smuggling expert that the Customs has produced in the last decade, the just retired officer at the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Owerri will be in the front row.
In his journey at the Nigeria Customs Service, he traversed the very unique commands of the Premier command in Apapa, the enforcement hubs of the Federal Operations Unit in Lagos , saw it all at the Seme/Badagry border command, from where he was discovered and hand picked by the Comptroller General of the Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, PhD, MFR, to go turn around the fortunes of the Federal Operations Unit, zone ‘C’ Owerri.
Comptroller Bishir Abdullahi Balogun, humble, strategic, intelligence-driven, in his approach didn’t mince words on his mission and vision for the Unit. No doubt, he has made indelible foot prints in his tour of duty. His sojourn at the Apapa command, was also a turning point.
Serving under several Area Controllers at the Seme/Badagry border command provided the verve to fully prepare him to prosecute any anti-smuggling operations on a larger scale.
Compt Balogun who believes so much in professionalism raised the bar when he was eventually put to test. Not given to manipulation of the system, he proved to be one of the round pegs in a round hole. At a time when smugglers were designing sophisticated strategies to evade import duties, he went frontal, reorganizing his teams to confront the evil monsters (economic saboteurs).
At a time the South-south and the entire South-East were mired in conflicts, arising from the IPOB, he used intelligence more to achieve the mandates given to him by the Comptroller General.
With at least eleven states under his jurisdiction; he injected fresh officers to upscale a semblance of the feats of his former commands and even surpass them.
Serving for almost 20 months, taking over from his predecessor, Michael Ugbagu in March last year, Balogun didn’t waste time to prove his mettle, declaring two weeks later, that there was no hiding place smugglers in the south East , a declaration he lived up to.
He had admonished importers to go by the rules, describing smuggling as an economic sabotage, as according to him, such practice runs counter to the government’s policy of revitalizing local firms, as well as provision of employment opportunities for the teeming youths.
To nip being caught in the web, he has always charged importers to endeavor to be conversant with items on the prohibition list, as well as those allowed for importation into the country.
He had maintained that this was one way of not falling on the wrong side of the import guidelines.
Compt Balogun’s stakeholders engagement was second to none, ditto his Corporate social Responsibility (CSR).
He is one expert that believes that with the global security situation, there were concerted efforts to nip the smuggling of small arms and light weapons in the bud.
Fighting the incidence of drugs headlong, he stated that the service was not unaware of incidence of illegal importation of hard drugs including tramadol, cannabis sativa, which he labeled as injurious to the lives of the youths, and he really nabbed those neck deep in the crime.
In his sojourn at the FOU’C’, he worked assiduously to build on the legacies of the Comptroller General by sustaining the three major mandates of the service as regards plugging revenue leakages, enforcement and trade facilitation ( in this regard legitimate trade)
Thorough-bred officer to the core, he had charged that he would not tolerate any offence against discipline, he periodically reworked the operational strategies in a bid to take steps ahead of economic saboteurs in order to tackle concealments, false declarations, underpayment of duty and importation of illicit drugs.
‘As we battle with smugglers, our eagle eyes will not be letting go of duty evasion’. His Unit drastically made life unbearable for unrepentant smugglers, while adhering strictly to the provisions of the 2023 Customs Act, which is an enabling legislation of the government agency.
Compt Balogun will be remembered for his high seizure profile, 24-hour-round-the-clock patrols, legitimate trade facilitation, cordial stakeholders engagements and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
While superintendenting over the FOU’C’, Balogun generated billions of naira revenue through the activation of the DN, as well as generating seizures worth more than N13 billion.
A distinguished officer of many parts, Comptroller Bishir Abdullahi Balogun could be described as one anti-smuggling Czar, who came, saw and conquered at the prestigious Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘C’ Owerri.
We congratulate you for retiring hale and hearty!