Joint Border Operation Drill
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]omptroller Mohammed Uba Garba, the Former Controller, Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, Ikeja and Seme Border Customs Command now the present Coordinator in Charge of North Central States,Joint Border Operation Drill who by any matrix, can be called an anti-smuggling czar, has taken battle to the Smugglers den at North Central States immediately he assumed office. He vowed to stop smugglers from operating at North Central States, because he knows that smugglers are economic saboteurs who are bent on circumventing the law.
He has always held on to the philosophy that you can never succeed as an anti-smuggling officer by mere saying smuggling is bad and smugglers are dangerous to our national economic growth. You must try to show example by fighting it head-on and putting your life on the line to show that you can die for this course. This anti-smuggling czar whose antecedents are record breaking at Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, Ikeja , Seme Border when it comes to Customs operations wondered aloud that while a good number of well meaning Nigerians are appreciative of government efforts to rid the nation of corruption in all its ramifications, some smugglers are repentantly bent on circumventing the lofty mission for their selfish interest. A believer in optimum delivery wherever he serves. Compt. Mohammed Garba, enumerated the obvious consequences of smuggling to the nation’s economy and her citizenry especially when it has brought unspeakable grief and sorrows to those caught and members of their families.
One thing going for Compt. Uba is perhaps in the history of his Customs Operations, the man has remained true to his pledge to ensure that journalists are briefed on the activities of his command on monthly basis. This is alien to most of the Area Controllers who are cowards and will quickly tell some journalists that “I don’t want to be blowing my trumpet so that Abuja will not think I want to take their job”. This officer of note has made the fourth Estate of the realm proud than ever in this regard. In doing this, he has chronicled his stewardship right from his days at the Zone ‘C’ in Owerri to keep Doubting Thomases at bay. He capped it up in Zone ‘A’ and Seme Border if you must know.
Comptroller Mohammed Uba Garba has served at different capacities in the Service. His outstanding achievements and rising profile on the job made him an exceptional Customs officer. He joined the Service in 1988, where he served in defunct Gongola State Command, as the OC Border Patrol. He worked at that Command for five years, after which he was posted to Kano in June, 1993. He served in Kano till December the same 1993. While in Kano, he was the sectional O/C Baggage, at the Aminu Kano International Airport. In December 1993, he was posted to Ogun Command, where he was made the OC Surveillance at Idiroko, the border between Nigeria and Republic of Benin. He served there till 1996, and was sent to Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, as Officer in charge of Shed ‘4’. His duty there was examination of cargo. In July 1997, Uba was again posted to Kano, where he worked as Baggage Coordinator at airport. There, he was Coordinator at Nigerian Airways NAHCO shed till 2004.
In March, 2004, Uba was posted to Onne Command in Port Harcourt, as OC Clean Report of Inspection, CRI, a document necessary for clearing of cargo. In 2005, at Onne Command, Uba became Assistant Comptroller, and was posted as officer in charge of Federal Ocean Terminal, FOT. In April 2008, he was sent to Customs Headquarters, tariff and trade unit, but later posted to Lilypond, as OC Valuation, till 2009. The same 2009, Uba became Deputy Comptroller, DC. So, in 2010, he was sent to Kirikiri Lighter Terminal as DC in charge of SDV Terminal.
The Journey did not end there. In 2011, he was posted to Tincan Command, as DC export, where he served till 2013. In the same 2013, he was transferred to Port Harcourt Area-1, and was redeployed the same year to Ogun Command as DC in charge of Import, where he served till 2015 when he became Controller. As the job demands, he was posted back to Headquarters in 2015 as Comptroller in charge of tariff. The same year, he was redeployed as Comptroller posting till October 2016, meaning, he didn’t spend a year when he was posted as Comptroller Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone ‘C’ Owerri, in charge of five Eastern States and 6 South/South States (11 States together). In May 2017, he assumed office as CAC of FOU Zone ‘A’, Lagos, where he has been chasing smugglers day and night and it was based on his outstanding records in anti-smuggling activities as well as revenue generation in the history of Federal Operations Units that earn him his recent position as the Customs Area Controller in Garba has generated the sum of One Billion, fifty million, eight hundred and sixty eight thousand, five hundred and seventy naira, twenty kobo only (N1, 050, 868, 570.20) for A charge of Seme Border.
He has the highest and outstanding records in anti-smuggling activities as well as revenue generation in the history of Federal Operation Unit(FOU).under his watch the command seized over 100 exotic cars from private homes, over N2.7billion wild life parts (pangolin scales) and swiftly arrested two Chinese suspects without any fear of intimidation.
The Anti- Smuggling unit of the Command also made a total of one hundred and twenty (120) seizures with a duty paid value of ninety five million, seventy thousand and five naira only (N95, 070, 005.00) for the months under review. Seme Border Enforcement unit has recorded a lot of seizures, among which are: 14 exotic vehicles, BMW 5 series, Toyota Venza, Mercedes Benz ML 350, Lexus RX 300 among others with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over seventy million Naira. A total of 4, 504 bags of Parboiled rice were also seized with DPV of N81, 162,080 (equivalent to 7 trailer trucks); other items like frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, and sugar worth over Thirteen million Naira were also seized “Three suspects arrested in connection to some of the seizures are currently under investigation and possible prosecution.
With Comptroller Uba on board, the reinvigorated anti-smuggling unit of the command is yielded positive results as drug traffickers and immigrants who use illegal routes are being apprehended and handed over to various security agencies for onward investigation and prosecution. The commands helmsman has always ensured synergy and collaboration in executing the core function among security agencies operating at the border.
His commitment and doggedness earned him the Chairman of Joint Border Security Meeting (JBSM) and he played a major role in the setting up of an ad-hoc Joint Taskforce from the JBSM platform which is headed by the Commanding Officer 243 Battalion, as internal monitoring mechanism to checkmate the menace of proliferation of checkpoints along the corridor when he was incharge of Seme Border Customs Command.
The deployment of this anti-smuggling czar to Joint Border Operation Drill is welcome development as we all know that he will perform well in terms of revenue generation, anti-smuggling drive, legitimate trade facilitation and the security of the nation through the effective manning of the border and he will imbibe the culture of transparency and professionalism while discharging his responsibilities.
By : Grassroots Publishers