An unprecedented revenue rise was recorded at the Tin can island command as its daily revenue quadrupled from N3.3 billion to N9.2 billion.
It was like Compt Dera Nnadi, mni performed this miracle by constantly working on the psyche of his officers and men who may have initially expressed doubt that such feat was achievable.
Welcoming members of the League of Maritime Editors who paid him a courtesy visit today, Nnadi said internally generated revenue was badly needed by government now to turn around the fortunes of the country.
He commended his officers, the freight forwarders and the clearing agents for adhering to the rules of Engagement.
According to him, the remaining 32 percent of the Command’s N801 billion for the year will be met, putting relevant trade rules into force.
I want to congratulate you on the appointment of someone you have always supported in the last 25 years- the Comptroller General of the Nigera customs service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, who has just been confirmed as the substantive Comptroller General of the customs
I also want to congratulate all of you and thank you for grooming several players in the industry too.
Some have also become Editors in their own capacity but are yet to be admitted into your fold. Some recently just graduated from some of you, they are making waves in the industry. It goes to show the kind of capacity all of you here deliver in the industry.
Finally, let me congratulate all of you for your recently acquired secretariat.
Unfortunately, the day that secretariat was commissioned, I was unable to attend , that was the day I took over. I missed that occasion and I promised to come and see the new edifice and be part of that history.
Having said that, let me say that the relationship I have with you is one of the things that brought me to what I have become today. I have always said it–I am a product of the media, the maritime media for that matter, everybody here has something to do with me. I have been with Mazi to his village to show you the extent of our relationship.
I think I came to his village with the Comptroller General when he was customs image maker and Compt Anyanwu who retired as Assistant Comptroller General.
That shows you the extent of our relationship, and like I say okro can never grow taller than the person that planted it
Yes, you can quote me on this, I may be a Comptroller today but I still remain your boy’
Because some of you, when you were relating with my bosses, I was a rookie PRO, when people like you would sit down with CG Mustapha or CG Jacob Gyang, I can not come into that room,so I will never because I have now become a Comptroller arrogate to myself that authority that I can now be above you– No-. Am still somebody learning from you, somebody that is still subject to your directives on how to run this industry that all of us have benefitted from. Almost everybody here has benefitted one thing or the other from this industry
Some of us came into this industry with nothing, some of us have grown to train our children through this industry, we have been able to put roofs over our heads in this industry and I appreciate you people.
Whatever the customs service has become today, some of you contributed to that, to the extent that somebody that you all supported has become the Comptroller General of Customs.
Somebody you people have supported has become ACG Headquarters, somebody you people supported has become Controller Tin can command, and somebody you people supported has become Controller Seme Badagry command, somebody you supported has become Comptroller, Special Duties at the Headquarters– Dr Olomu.
So you people should see yourself in that light, as having brought up men who have attained prominent positions in the industry and therefore, whatever you ask for in this industry should be considered as your right. And for that reason, asking us to participate in your 25th year anniversary is most appropriate.
And it is my wish that the Comptroller General of customs will approve of it and we look forward to be coming around
Your choice of Delta is therefore significant.
Revenue, My predecessor did so well, considering the economic challenges of the country.
So when we took over, knowing that one of our key performance indicators is revenue collection. And further, considering that this present government needs all the money it can muster to run the national economy, and some of those money is expected to come from internally generated revenue, one of the key providers, of one of which is the customs.
And further considering that this command is the second largest revenue generating command for tge customs, we saw it as a very big challenge to upgrade what my predecessor left for me and my colleagues who are here.
Yes, when we took over, with three months to the end of the year, our revenue stood at 52 percent, meaning, we are expected to collect 48 percent in order to meet our expected target for the 2023. That target is N801 billion. So at 52 percent, you now know how much we are expected to collect.
Through the hardwork of the officers of the command and following small interventions that I make here and there, we were able by the end of September to reduce that target to 37 percent.
As at this morning, it has come down to as low as 32 percent. That means we are doing well, but that does not mean the challenges are not there, when we took over, our daily expected target was N3.3 billion and it is a big challenge considering that cargo throughput dropped due to the poor purchasing power of the people following the scarcity of the dollar.
In order to meet up the target in consideration of the few months left, I held a meeting with my colleagues, we revised the target to N5.2 billion daily. So we set our own target, it appeared as undaunting task. They say if you want to aim at the top of the tree, aim at the moon. If you don’t get the moon, at least you end on the tree.
And that’s what we did by setting a N5.2 billion target daily, we tried initially, as a result, officers are working so hard, and with the cooperation of freight forwarders, the agents and importers, we were able to collect more than N4 billion once in a while, sometimes it goes back to more than N2 billion. It kept fluctuating until we hit N5.2 billion.
I told the officers that you can see, it is achievable, it is doable. Another day, they collected N7.2 billion, N7.6 billion and another day they collected N9.2 billion, that was last week. What it means is that my officers are really working hard.
Earlier, the President of the League of Maritime Editors, High Chief Timothy Paul Okorocha had congratulated Comptroller Dera Nnadi, mni on his redeployment to Tin can island command, noting that it was a product of his hardwork and merit.
Okorocha also briefed the Area controller on the League’s forthcoming 25th year anniversary coming up between December 7th and 8th and extended an invitation to him to grace the occasion.
Describing Nnadi as a round peg in a round hole, he hoped that the command under his stewardship will sustain and even surpass the revenue target of the command.