CAC, Seme Customs Command
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]omptroller Mohammed Uba has stepped up patrol and security surveillance at the border between Nigeria and Republic of Benin, in order to check activities of smuggling and influx of illegal immigrants seeing yuletide period as the best time to carry out illicit trade across the borders.
Seme Border which is the busiest border within the West African sub-region, is sequel to the massive seizures of over 27 trailers of foreign rice, hard drugs, 21 vehicles comprising of exotic cars and other prohibited items intercepted recently by the Command.following the new directives of the current Customs Area Controller, CAC, of the Command, Comptroller Mohammed Uba, who is working tirelessly to curtail smuggling of offensive items into the country through the border, especially this month of December, where commercial activities are of the increase and officers of Seme Area Command are also battle ready to confront smugglers. You can give it to Comptroller Mohammed Uba as having performed, if the dictates of measuring feats recorded as par his Enforcement roles are subjected to scrutiny. Distinct from those roles, you can also give him a pat on the back as one that is bold courageous and reads in between the books of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) in drawing conclusions whether goods should be seized, detained or intercepted, which ever.
One thing going for him is perhaps in the history of the Federal Operations Unit, the man has remained true to his
pledge to ensure that journalists are briefed on the activities of his unit 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’ if you must know ans he is till doing same presently at Seme Border Customs Area Command.
Mohammed Uba Garba is not given to fear in executing the war on smuggling, and his seizure profile since his assumption of office is unparalleled in the history of the Seme Border.The recent deployment of Compt. Garba to Seme Border the issues of contraband and import duty shortfall has been greatly reduced, because the man in question cannot be intimidated, He knows his capacity and record of seizures since he came here; therefore he cannot compromise the ethics of the Service”;
Since Compt. Uba came on board , movement at Seme is no longer business as usual, as the CAC himself is always on the field, even as he has another office at ECOWAS Joint Border Post, where he monitors activities from both sides of the border.It could be recalled that only last month, Seme Customs show-cased massive seizures of exotic cars, foreign rice, vegetable oil, used tyres, sugar, petroleum products, Tramadol and textile materials intercepted by the Command within a very short period.
Most outstanding among the seized items was a mini-truck fully loaded with smuggled rice underneath the engine
compartments, but still uncovered by operatives of Seme Command. Also, seven suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures.
Compt. Garba has said that there is no hiding place for the dare-devil smugglers in his area of coverage, warning economic saboteurs to desist from
illicit trade and allow sanity in the economic environment.