The Nigeria Customs Service, Apapa Area Command, has made significant strides in intercepting contraband and generating revenue for the government.
According to a document analysing the achievements of Babatunde Olomu as the Customs Area Controller of the command, the Apapa Command seized 75 different contrabands within the last 15 months.
These seizures include assorted rifles, ammunition, expired pharmaceuticals, fake drugs, banned substances such as codeine and tramadol, used clothing, expired margarine, codeine syrup, wild animal skins, and stolen vehicles.
The document further stated that under Olomu’s leadership, the command generated N3.7tn in revenue between May 2024 and July 2025. Breaking down the revenue collection, the document revealed that the command collected N175.1bn in May 2024, N178.2bn in June, N201.8bn in July, N189.5bn in August, N193.9bn in September, N264.4bn in October, N229.3bn in November, and N252.5bn in December 2024.
In 2025, the command collected N269.3bn in January, N216.9bn in February, N215.9bn in March, N230.7bn in April, N230.7bn in May, N209.1bn in June, N214.5bn in July, and N215bn in August.
Other notable seizures made by the command include containers of stolen vehicles, restricted security gadgets such as drones, and telecommunication devices.
Specifically, the command recovered 60 units of warrior drones without valid End-User Certificates and 53 helicopter drones with an estimated duty-paid value of N2.1. Additionally, 10 professional FM transceivers were confiscated, along with other contraband worth several billions of naira.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, commended Olomu for his efforts in intercepting contraband that would have further threatened national security. “The Apapa Command handles the highest volume of trade for NCS, collects the highest revenue, and is therefore saddled with a higher degree of expectation from the management of the service and the government.
“I urge them to maintain this level of performance. Let me advise our port users to embrace only legitimate trade. NCS, under my leadership, is fully committed to its responsibilities in detecting all forms of concealment,” Adeniyi said.
