A two time governorship aspirant in Edo State and veteran broadcaster with numerous awards in the maritime industry, High Chief Jacob Idinye has taken a swipe at Fisayo Soyombo, a self-styled investigative journalist for making spurious and unfounded allegations against the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi and his men, noting that the service has made significant progress in seizure of illegal items imported into the country.
The Edo born media personality also commended the CG of Customs for living up to his promises since his assumption into office, adding that he had surpassed his targets in terms of revenue generation and fight against smuggling and protection of Nigeria’s territorial borders in line with the service’s policy thrust.
Idinye made these assertions Tuesday night in an engagement with some selected journalists at a hotel in Lagos.
According to him, “It is a common knowledge that customs, in partnership with other security have made significant progress in seizure of illegal items imported into the country amd those found culpable are often faced with appropriate sanctions according to the dictates of the extant laws. The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi MFR, should also be commended by ensuring that his personnel are working around the clock to ensure that cargoes are thoroughly scanned and checked. Adeniyi has consistently proven that he is the best man for the job.
“I make bold to say no serious-minded Nigerian should entertain the gibberish coming from Fisayo Soyombo, he is simply acting the script of a blackmailer. His allegations that officers colluded with smugglers to move over 130,000kg of rice from Benin Republic into Nigeria was a total falsehood. He further claimed that Customs officers were working with Abuga to pass more than 2,000 cars containing at least 65 bags of rice each from Bebe in Benin Republic into Sango, Nigeria, this is also ridiculous and reprehensible. What this young chap is doing is primarily irresponsible, Soyombo is intentionally distorting facts to mislead people, create sensation and increase social media views. His disregard for ethical conduct in spreading calumny, incitement to hatred, leakage of official secrets, inaccuracy and the spreading of lies should attract legal sanctions and prosecution.
“I am a trained journalist myself and from my research there is no country in the world that can completely eradicate smuggling, it can only be curtailed, which is what the CG has been doing in full swing. When he assumed office as the Comptroller General, on June 25, 2023, with due respect the CG, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi promised to turn around the fortunes of the service. Eight months after, it is clear even to cynics that Adeniyi has transformed the Nigeria Customs Service.
“The Nigeria Customs Service under the leadership of Adeniyi, has shown a positive performance in revenue collection. He has galvanized stakeholders in the maritime industry preaching about the need to put Nigeria first as enshrined in the campaign manifesto of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has improved revenue collection through various measures, including optimising revenue collection, plugging revenue leakages, and addressing gaps in the customs clearance process. Last year the service generated a record N3.2 trillion revenue, representing a 21.4 per cent increase compared to the previous years.
“Assuming the helm of affairs of the service October last year as the substantive Comptroller General of Customs, Adeniyi utterly repositioned the service to tackle its failure by maximizing its capacity in revenue generation and insulate the economy from the menace of smuggling and in less than five months in office, different operational zones across the country have stepped up their ante for improved service delivery to Nigerians.”
Idinye while highlighting further the milestones recorded by the CG through the introduction of Revenue Review Recovery Team, said:
“In a bid to further strengthen the NCS’s revenue generating capacity, the customs boss, established a Revenue Review Recovery Team, dissolved the existing Strike Force Teams, and streamlined enforcement under the Federal Operations Unit (FOU).
“The Revenue Review Recovery Team‘s primary role is to identify operational inefficiencies, human errors, and fraud. The team was accordingly mandated to focus on recovering lost or uncollected revenues due to these factors, ensuring compliance with customs regulations, laws, and procedures. The team is also ensuring that all available income streams are collected and documented, adhering strictly to the relevant customs regulations and laws.
“The team tracks and analyzes revenue performance to identify potential bottlenecks or delays that may need attention. There are many more achievements that the men and officers of Customs have experienced which have literally boosted their morale and enhanced their performances under this current CG.
“People like Fisayo Soyombo and his ilk should be seen to be responsible on the social media and stop churning out misleading information which cannot be fact-checked or supported with prove. Putting old videos and pictures on the internet to cause confusion is totally unacceptable and should be stopped through the instruments of the law without any further delay, the internet needs sanity and should as well be rid of alternative fact or what is largely referred to as fake news,” Idinye said.
