Customs Drive Through Scanner Capable to Examine 200 Containers Hourly Will Revolutionize Trade – Oshoba

Comptroller Emmanuel Oshoba, Customs Area Controller for Apapa Port Command talked about his readiness for the tasks ahead. He is leveraging on his institutional knowledge and understanding of the human elements in the port ecosystem.He spoke to Ismail Aniemu

(Q) May we know who Comptroller Emmanuel Oshoba is?

My name is Controller Emmanuel Oluwadare Abisayo Oshoba. I was enlisted into the service in 1991. I have held several positions.Let me start from the Controller level. I have been a Controller, Risk Management at the Headquarters. I have also been a Controller in charge of Special Duties at the Headquarters. Most recently, I have been the Controller in charge of the Customs Intelligence Unit, from where I assumed office here as the CAC, Apapa Area Command.

(Q) Tell us, what has it been like settling down in Apapa Command, which is the flagship command of Nigeria Customs Service, that oversees customs activities at the busiest ports in West and Central Africa?

Firstly, let me just say, thank God for my posting here. I also want to thank the Comptroller General of Customs , Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, for his trust in appointing me to head this command at this time. Settling down to me is like I have my work cut out for me. Being Controller in charge of the Customs Intelligence Unit has given me a wide, extensive and comprehensive background of customs activities all over the country, in terms of revenue, enforcement and excise.

As Controller CIU, I have my operatives all over the country and even in Apapa here.Virtually on a daily basis, I have reports from Apapa. Secondly, most of the principal officers here are people I have known for a while, starting from DC Revenue , DC CIU, who happened to be most recent DC under me, DC Compliance, my present Staff Officer and Assistant Comptroller Usman. I’ve worked with all these people over the time, including the DC valuation, Abdullahi .

This made it very easy for me to fit in because I think the most important thing when you assume any office is getting familiar with the personnel working with you. I’ve prepared my personnel and that made it easy for me to fit in easily. I have a background knowledge of activities in Apapa. I had known the the personnel there before now.

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Additionally , the stakeholders are not new to me. Most of the stakeholders are people I’ve been interacting with since when I was Controller, Risk Management, Special Duties, CIU. That made things very easy for me.

(Q) Tell us about the revenue. There seems to be a sustenance of what used to be, and possibly an increase in revenue collection under your watch. What did you do differently?

Albert Einstein who was called a genius said it is because he was standing on the shoulders of those who had come before him. I had the ground prepared for me by my predecessors in terms of revenue generation. All I needed to do was just a little fine-tuning here and there. I also must always give the glory to God because of the environment created by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu himself.He has prepared the ground in terms of trade facilitation and ease of doing business.

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He’s a man who is so much after making an headway for importers and those engaged in port activities to move their goods quite easily and quickly. All I’ve done was to key into it. Like I said, with a positive image I came with from CIU, most of the stakeholders have known me from time and my officers have known me. They had the confidence that they can work with me. I think that has aided the increase in the revenue.

(Q) Let’s look at strategic relationship with sister government agencies, regulatory bodies, and the business community. To what extent have you touched on this aspect?

We are leveraging on the CGC’s three-point mandate in terms of consolidation. We are concentrating on past gains by my predecessors over here and interaction with these stakeholders we talked about. The second one is collaboration which is key.Immediately I got into office, one of the first things I did was stakeholder engagements. I’ve had interactions with a lot of people, starting from our traditional rulers. I’ve met with the Oba of Lagos and the Ojora of Ijora because these are royal fathers here and they command a lot of respect.

If you are working in a place, you need to carry people like them along. They must buy-in to our activities. We have also engaged the port Police. We have a new AIG in charge of maritime police. I’ve paid him a courtesy visit. Wthin my purview here, I have had engagement with National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), ANCLA, freight forwarders and others and we will continue to do that. I think that made it quite easy for us. Also, like I said, from my CIU background and even the risk management, I’ve interacted with most of these stakeholders and they know that discipline and integrity is key for me. That has aided my seamless involvement in activities around here.

(Q) What is your message to members of the port community who interact, interface, or do business with Nigeria Customs Service?

First and foremost, I want to say according my CGC, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi , we are open to business. Stakeholder engagement is key for us because we require synergy. In modern coordinated border management, carrying stakeholders along is key to achieving your goals and setting targets. According to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has set the agenda in terms of tax reforms, the point is to increase the trade volume we have. The more the trade volume increases, the more revenue that comes into the country that helps in the provision of infrastructure and necessary facilities for the country. The CGC has keyed into it.

With the mandate of the CGC comes what we call innovation. We have some innovative tools that we’re using now.Firstly, we started with Advanced Ruling .As a port user, if you have any consignment you’re going to bring to the country and you’re not sure you can approach the Customs Service, we have Advanced Ruling and it’s legally binding on us. The second one is the Authorized Economic Operators, AEO scheme, which I also emplore our compliant traders to key into. It facilitates trade for us.

Thirdly, we are working on scanning. We’re almost at a delivery point for the scanner machines. We have the pass-through scanner machines that are going to transform the business community in Apapa port. We have an average of between 150 to 200 containers that will be pass through it in one hour. That is something to look forward to as it is fast. I believe the CGC and probably people from the presidency will come here to commission that project.

It’s something we are looking forward to and I’ve been sensitizing port users around to be prepared for it. The best way to benefit from it is to be involved in the AEO project. Be an AEO beneficiary because it helps when all these things fall into place. The advanced ruling, like I said, is also key for us.

(Q) Have you touched anything that relate to export since you came?

Essentially, this is not an export command. Export has now moved to Lilypond Export Command.Virtually, this is just a passage through to the ports and ships.