Comptroller Dera Nnadi of the Tincan Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS is interviewers delight, his integrity quotient has no rival and his knowledge of the job of collecting revenue for the government has earned him the sobriquet of the poster boy of the Nigeria Customs Service, a name that has stuck with him
By Miracle Egbo
Comptroller Dera Nnadi , Comptroller in charge of Tincan Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service , NCS, is in the mold of the late Professor Dora Akunyili stellar performance who cleaned the Augean stable of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC and made the agency enviable but became a thorn in the flesh of fake drug peddlers and manufacturers in the country thereby saving the lives of millions of Nigerians who hitherto were victims of fake drugs in the country. The track records of Late Professor Akunyili still resonates today in the agency.
Comptroller Nnadi has replicated the feat of late professor Akunyili in all the positions he had held in the Customs. When he was the Comptroller in charge of the Seme Border he was a thorn in the flesh of the economic saboteurs in the country which is popularly known as smugglers. On weekly basis the cerebral Customs officer intercepted million gallons of fuel being smuggled to neighbouring nations. Until he left the Seme Border, nightmare was the signature of an average smuggler operating in that axis. Intelligence reports revealed that since he left the Seme Border Command for Tincan Island Command of Customs, the smuggling activities is allegedly booming.
When he took over the Tincan Island Command of Customs, he brought to bear on the officers of the Command his mantra of zero tolerance for corruption. His sermon that if you do not kill corruption, corruption will kill you paid off recently when he handed the sum of $54,330 to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC Head in Lagos State, Mr. Michael Wetkas. The money was bribe moneys intended to obstruct the works of the officers of the Command.
The likes of Nnadi in the service of the Nigeria Customs Service in the country will keep hope alive that the transformation of the revenue collection agency is possible, and there is hope that the country would be transformed for good if his likes are encouraged to continue with the laudable agenda in Customs Service. Apart from his determination to maintain zero corruption culture in the Tincan Island Command, the poster boy of Customs upped the ante in the revenue collection strides of the Command making the Command the envy of its equal in revenue collection in the various ports scattered all over the country. Consecutively since he took the mantle of leadership in the Tincan Island of Customs Command, he surpassed the targeted revenue of the Command.
Speaking at the 25th Anniversary of the League of Maritime Editors, LOME, held in Travel Inn Hotel, Lagos last week, Controller Nnadi encouraged Nigerians especially the media clan to be circumspect of what they write about the country so that they do not send a wrong signals to foreign nations who would like to invest in the country. He said that every policy of the government in most cases is done in the interest of the citizens.
Hate him or love him, Comptroller Nnadi is a rare gift to Nigeria Customs Service as evidenced in the positive changes he had brought to bear in the psyche of an average Customs officers who has passed through his tutelage.
