COMPT AWE SHORES UP REVENUE @ MMAC TO N142.4 BILLION IN 9 MONTHS; REMINISCES ON HIS DECADES OF SERVICE TO FATHERLAND
The Murtala Muhammed Airport command is not lagging behind in revenue generation as it has recorded more than N142.4 billion between January and third week of September this year.
The highest revenue figure since the inception of the command , hovering around N21.3 billion was made , which excited officers and men of the MNAC.
Area Controller of the command, Compt Michael Toyin disclosed to our Editor that the command’s workforce was using intelligence to plug all revenue leakages.
‘Like you know, the kind of environment we operate in gives it out as a place where some operators may wish to evade payments, but we have to be strategic to recover all monies that government is entitled to.
The Murtala Muhammed Airport command is sensitive, and needs a person with management skills, knowing the operational rules of engagement to sail through.
With September still running, he revealed that more than N15 billion is already in government coffers, expressing the hope that more money will drop before the month runs out.
The Area controller who went memory lane disclosed that though, several challenges have been recorded in his decades of journey in the service, he has however, surmounted all, employing the experiences acquired while growing in the service.
Even where things are not happening, he will face it headlong inorder to see light at the end of the tunnel. He recalled a task force on revenue recovery which he headed in the eastern zone, where he also proved his mettle.
He had to his credit recovered more than N9 billion in Cross River alone , just few weeks after he was posted there, a feat which earned him commendation from then Comptroller General.
He has earlier worked at the command before now, where he made sure that NIPOST bills were fully recovered, than going into private pockets.
Awe happens to be one of those lucky officers whose tenure was extended by one year, terminating in three months’ time.
On his one year extension, he said it came as a pleasant surprise as he had a day before his final date of retirement, he had asked his aides to hand over his prepared hand over notes to any incoming Area controller but was informed subsequently that he was among six officers granted a year extension. He described the action as novel, thanking God for the grace.
He was asked if he has any regrets so far in all his sojourn in the service, to which he said ‘not at all. I give glory to God’
Asked if he won’t miss the customs uniform which makes him look smart, he said, ‘you know we have been wearing it for decades’
From his responses, you don’t need to be told that he looked fulfilled.
At the commissioning of the Adewale Adeniyi Sports complex at the command recently, the Comptroller General had described Compt Awe as a highly recommended officer, very cerebral and one who knows the job. He stated that he was happy that the confidence reposed in the Area controller was not abused.
Asked to comment on the Comptrollers General he has worked with and what stood them out, he said of his current boss, Adewale Adeniyi, MFR;
‘He is a man of good initiatives, he is always pro-active, a major factor which earned him the position of Chairman of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Council. This is a man who believes in performance, a good manager of men and resources’ he deposed.
Since his assumption of office at the MMAC in April last year, Compt Awe has bruised a lot of smugglers, recording large scale seizures of arms and ammunition, drugs, snakes, donkey skin, and drones worth billions of naira.