The Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit, Zone “C”, has decorated 46 promoted officers in the zone with their new ranks.
The Zonal Comptroller, Kayode Kolade, while decorating the officers, also announced that seizures by the unit, worth over N5.35 billion, were made in 2023.
He attributed the seizures to hard-work, resilience, dedication to duty and commitment of his men and officers.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that three officers were promoted from the rank of Chief Superintendent of Customs (CSC) to Assistant Comptroller.
Also, five Superintendent of Customs were promoted to CSC and three Deputy Superintendent (DSC) to Superintendent of Customs (SC).
Others included two Assistant Superintendents of Customs (ASC) I to DSC; six ASC II to ASC I; 17 Inspectors of Customs (IC) to ASC II; eight Assistant Inspectors of Customs (AIC) to IC and one Customs Area I to AIC.
Among the decorated officers was the Zone’s Public Relations Officer, Jerry Attah, who was promoted from SC to CSC.
The Comptroller said that as a result of the interventions of his officers in checkmating the activities of fraudulent agents at the seaports, lots of revenues, totalling about N152.5 million, hitherto lost, were recovered.
He charged the promoted officers to live above board and continue to justify the confidence reposed in them by the service.
He also commended the Comptroller-General, Wale Adeniyi, for his continued support and fatherly disposition which, he said, resulted in the promotion and eased the activities of officers.
Kolade said: “Let me use this opportunity to appreciate the Comptroller-General of Customs, Wale Adeniyi MFR, and his management team through the Board of the NCS for this privilege and promise our determination and zeal to perform even more as we wear our new ranks.
“New rank comes with new and more responsibility and we must deliver on our mandate.
“One thing that is constant in life is change.
“Due to the recent promotion, there will be changes in our roster and we must justify our relevance in duty assignments.
“We need to improve on our performance this year to meet the N5.7 trillion target set by the service and I believe we can do it,” he further said.
The comptroller listed the items seized to include pangolin scales, foreign rice, marijuana, fake pharmaceutical products, tramadol, used vehicles, used tyres, used clothing and explosive raw materials, among others.