The Nigerian Customs has elevated Comptroller Mohammed Abba-Kura to acting Assistant Comptroller General in charge of headquarters.
Abba-Kura, who was until the new appointment, the Customs Area Controller in charge of Apapa Command, will now operate from Abuja and becomes a member of the Customs Management Team.
The new ACG, while serving as Controller of Apapa, made unprecedented revenue generation of over N55 billion monthly collection.
Under his watch, the Apapa Area Command generated N518.1 billion in 2020 – significant increase by N94.4 billion or 22.3 per cent – from the N423.6 billion collected in 2019.
He recently announced seizures of pangolin and other endangered species meant for export, worth N952 million because they were in contravention of export prohibition guidelines.
He said that the items were contained in a one-unit 20-feet container with number CSLU 2362640 heading to Haiphong, Vietnam.
He said that the items, falsely declared as furniture, comprised 162 sacks of pangolin scales weighing 8,800kg and 57 sacks of mixed endangered species of various sizes such as ivory/animal horns, lion bones and others.
Abba-Kura said the total weight of the items stood at 854,719 tonnes, valued N952 million.
He had earlier served as Controller in charge of Zone A office of Post Clearance Audit (PCA) where he achieved the recovery of N17.4b in 2018.
His uncompromising use of Harmonised System (HS) code, the C (Customs) number, type of commodities imported, profile of importers and their agents including applying blocking of suspected duty defaulters from further transactions assisted in the recoveries.
At the PCA office he achieved collection of N2.3b underpayment from a company through audit discoveries without compromising flow of business in line with laid down World Customs Organization (WCO) procedures.
An alumnus of the University of Maiduguri, Abba-Kura, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, joined the Nigeria Customs Service in April 1989.
He also holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations and Strategic Studies from Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo.
He has attended several training programmes and courses in Nigeria and abroad including that of the Institute of Risk Management , London and Galilee International Management Institute in Israel where he obtained a Diploma in National Security in 2013.