By Abiodun Lawal
Abeokuta – The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Ogun, has tasked officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to intensify efforts in reducing the spate of smuggling through the state.
Mr Wale Adewunmi, the Chairman, Correspondents’ Chapel, Ogun council of NUJ, gave this charge on Tuesday when new executives of the chapel paid a courtesy visit on the Customs Area Controller, Mr Sanni Madugu in Abeokuta.
Adewunmi said that Ogun, being a gateway between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin, was often used by smugglers to bring in contrabands.
He urged officers and men of the service to continue to do their best at stemming smuggling activities through the state.
The chairman assured that members of the chapel and the NUJ as a body, would continue to support the NCS in carrying out its statutory duty.
In his remarks, Madugu disclosed that the command had generated more than N600 million monthly into the coffers of the Federal Government.
He stated that the monthly revenue target for Ogun command was N900 million.
The controller said that the command had not been able to meet the target due to low economic activities in Abeokuta, which according to him, are mostly concentrated in the border areas.
Madugu, however, expressed optimism that in no distant future, the command would meet the target set for it.
He said that hitherto, the command was generating N400 million but was able to increase it to N600 million.
“Our revenue target in Ogun command is more than N900 million monthly, there are places where revenue target is N300 million, N400 million and N500 million.
“Then you have places as Apapa Port and Tincan Island Port, where we generate more than one billion naira every working day.
“What we are doing in Ogun is to make sure we are making efforts; we have not met our target in Ogun command, the revenue is high, the target is high but the activities are low.
“We are making efforts to ensure that we even surpass that target,” he said.
The controller appreciated the journalists for the visit, saying that the partnership that existed between them and the NCS had really assisted the service in promoting its activities.
