The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise have praised the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) led by Comptroller Kola Oladeji, for adopting novel enforcement strategies against smugglers that aided its significant advancements in revenue generation for the country.
The lawmakers said that the improvement in the Zone’s records have strengthened the House of Representatives’ belief that the Customs officers have been able to prevent smugglers from sabotaging the country’s economy through illegal importation of drugs and other contraband items.
The committee chairman, Leke Abejide, disclosed this on Thursday after a tour of the FOU Zone A holding facilities in Ikeja and records of their achievements particularly during the first quarter of the year 2025.
He said: “We have gone through the entire premises and we have seen all the giant strides that have been made by the FOU Zone A under the Comptroller Kola Oladeji. The seizures strategies were commendable because they have done it with the best strategy that prevented loss of human lives.
“We want to use this medium to encourage them not to relent in their effort because the economic saboteurs are trying to discourage their work but from what we have seen today, we want to commend them. Our belief is that this commendation will encourage them to do more for the nation.
“We have been able to see where they need help which we can assist through legislation. This is the essence that we have come here”, the lawmaker added.
Meanwhile, he disclosed that the committee would be pushing for the conversion of FOU Zone A headquarters in Ikeja to officers’ quarters to cushion the effect of housing challenges on the law enforcement officers attached to the zone.
He explained that this request would be made after the Zone headquarters had been relocated to Iperu in Ogun State where bigger facilities than Ikeja awaits them.
“We have seen the level of work going on there and we believe that in the next one and half years, the FOU should be moved to Ogun state. By then, we believe that they will have enough space to operate.
“We have seen where the officers are staying, we believe that it is not suitable for law enforcement officers to lay down their heads after working for the development of the nation. And we must understand that 70 percent of the staff attached to the FOU are in Lagos and accommodation is their challenge in the state”.
Earlier, Oladeji disclosed that the zone surpassed the revenue target approved for 2024Â by 57.6 percent.
According to him, the management of Nigeria Customs Service set a revenue target of N569 million for this unit in 2024 but we were able to surpass this by collecting the sum of N896 million as revenue.
He explained that the revenue was achieved through a business friendly strategy, robust stakeholder’s engagement and effective feedback mechanism from business operators within the zone.
“We realised that all hands must be on deck to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the Country through implementation of the ease of Doing Business policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Hence we streamlined our operation by reducing the number of checkpoints and Patrol Teams on the roads and embraced more intelligence tools to drive operations. This has been very successful in terms increased arrest and deployment of less resources.
“We have robust relationships with all Stakeholders, Community leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders and non-governmental organizations. They all form the bedrock of our Intelligence Circle. They are all partners in the wheel of our progress”.
