Ajimobi seeks Customs, pubic partnership against smuggling

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has called for the establishment of community-Customs relations groups, in order to have access to adequate information about boarder activities and succeed in combating smuggling across the country.

He made this know on Thursday while receiving the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Ibadan, the state capital.

While calling for public support for the service, Ajimobi said he believed that the Customs should have relationship with all strata of the society, including traditional rulers, border communities, students, youths who could willingly volunteer to give adequate information to the service.

He said “I am suggesting that the Customs service should have community relations groups that can be giving information on border activities.

“I believe that the Customs should have relationship with all strata of the society so that more information can be giving to you.

Ajimobi who described his guest, a former Military Administrator of Kaduna State as a man of impeccable character and embodiment of what a normal human being could be also pledged the support of the state government for the Customs in order to ensure that his administration’s agenda came to the reality.

While speaking on the rationale behind his visit to the state governor, the Customs boss remarked that he was in the state to tour the Oyo/Osun Command spreading between the states and to intimate his men to strive to meet the revenue target given to the Customs and Federal Inland Revenue service by the federal government.

Ali, who, alongside other top officials of Customs including the Oyo/Osun Area Controller of Customs, Mr. Temitope Ogunkua called on companies and industries across the nation to pay their excise duties as at when due thereby generating more revenue to the government.

While speaking with top management of the BAT led by the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Chris Mcallister, Ali said the purpose of his visit to the company was to ginger up industries on their responsibilities in revenue generation.

He said his visit to stakeholders, formations in the command and to BAT was part of his familiarisation visit to companies and industries he described as trading partners.

He said that “I have come here to meet as stakeholders to ginger you up to your responsibility in revenue generation. What we are doing is to visit our industries and trading partners to ensure smooth operations and drive more revenue to improve the economy.