Enforcement operation remains one of the most cardinal and sensitive functions of the Nigeria customs service.
And that’s why a lot of resources-financial, technological and appropriate human capacity are deployed towards making it to succeed.
However, it is also obvious that the number of enforcement officers is depleting with time, owing to statutory retirements of the personnel, with only few of the Deputy/Assistant Comptrollers being celebrated due to their sterling performance.
When the Comptroller General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, PhD, MFR, appointed him as the Acting Area Controller of the Oyo/Osun command, it was as certain that he was a nice pick; a round peg in a round hole.
Deputy Comptroller Moses Adewole is of the old stock.
He has been groomed in enforcement duties for more than two decades, harvesting seizures from economic saboteurs right from those years of yore.
At the Comptroller General’s Anti-smuggling Strike Force , under the distinguished retired ACG Ade Francis, MFR, now a Senator of the Federal Republic, who was then the National Co-ordinator, Adewole was one of the Prime officers assembled to stem the the tide of vehicle smuggling that was perpetrated in large scale through the fragile porous Benin/Nigeria corridors.
A war against foreign parboiled rice as well as several uncustomed goods was prosecuted like never before, and one of the arrow heads is this man of the moment.
At the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) zone A, Lagos, where he was the officer in charge of operations, the Unit made unprecedented seizures, following his sagacity and intelligence-driven operation.
His strategy and experience acquired over the years is what he brings on board at the Oyo/Osun command.
The Command is very wide, sharing border with the fringes of Benin with very difficult terrain.
Having criss-crossed all the smuggling routes of that area in the course of his duties over the years, he has the geography of the communities there in his finger tips;
No wonder his massive seizure profile that has come with his stewardship in the last eight months.
Deputy Comptroller Adewole started well on his arrival with meetings relevant stakeholders, taking necessary steps to pay homage to the monarchs and the traditional institutions, calling on them to support and key into the Comptroller General’s mandates, one of which is the fight against smuggling.
He has initiated the requisite collaboration with other security agencies, the result is the seamless enforcement activities which have reduced violence in its operations, while emphasizing on the sanctity of life.
As an enforcement and revenue command, Adewole has not disappointed but has excelled on all fronts.
Since his assumption of office, the command has recorded seizures to the tune of more than N10 billion, marking a huge departure.
In his maiden briefing in January, few weeks after he mounted the saddle, he announced a N2.7 billion seizures.
Subsequent month that followed, he seized prohibited items worth N2.5 billion, while in the second week of June , he raked in contraband valued at N3.2 billion.
The command’s revenue profile has hit about N60 billion in the eight months of this year.
He is expected to double the N99.5 billion the command generated last year, if possible.
Adewole is not resting on his oars; he says they have a strict mandate from the Comptroller General which they will not fail.
With his strong leadership style and his mouth-watering feats at the command so far, it lays credence to the wise choice made by the Comptroller General, and like they say, the recognition for hard work is more work and higher responsibility.