The Customs Area Controller (CAC) in charge of the Tincan Island Port Area Command, Apapa, Lagos, exemplifies traits of an exceptional leader which places the port under his watch as the most business-friendly environment in the recent times, resulting in unprecedented trade facilitation initiatives, anti-smuggling strategies and huge revenue generation into government coffers as well as numerous excellent leadership awards coming his way
By Innocent Chukwu
America’s internationally recognized leadership expert, John C. Maxwell, once affirmed that, “Good leaders rarely think in terms of boundaries; instead, they think in terms of opportunities. They are initiators. Afterall, the number one characteristic of leaders is the ability to make things happen”. Indeed, Maxwell’s maxim summarizes the rare exploits of the Customs Area Controller (CAC) at the Tincan Island Port, Apapa, Lagos, Comptroller Frank Onyeka. Comptroller Onyeka has within a period of months turned the command to a masterpiece in terms of friendly business environment for the trading community.
For Comptroller Onyeka, there has been a clear display of hard work since he assumed office early this year, precisely in January. He was promoted late last year to the Comptroller rank and promptly deployed to the Tincan Island Port Customs Command as its CAC. Upon taking over the mantle of leadership of the Command, Onyeka started preaching hard work to all the officers and men of the Command, instructing that the best and only way to make significant impact on their core mandates of trade facilitation, revenue generation and security of the nation, was to settle down to not just work, but to work harder than anyone else in their chosen profession so as to take the command to a glorious height. The instruction on hard work was implemented to the letter through Onyeka’s effective monitoring, and it has resulted in eldorado song at the Command.
For observers, he has since the past nine months exerted a lot of efforts to succeed and has been adjudged as successful in all ramifications.
This explains why the League of Maritime Editors (LOME) on Tuesday, September 30, 2025 chose Comptroller Frank as the recipient of its Gold Award for Excellent Leadership. Onyeka was bestowed with the award which LOME said was in recognition of his glaring commitment to leadership qualities which have helped in promoting trade facilitation and collection of more revenue from the Tincan Island port. Since his appointment Onyeka has shown his strong belief in transparency and stakeholders’ engagement.
Since he assume office as the CAC of the Command, Onyeka has been focusing more on the promotion of service efficiency, trade facilitation and revenue collection. While promoting trade, Onyeka has fought smugglers to a standstill busting several rings of smuggling syndicates who had tried to turn the Tincan Port into in a haven of illicit trade. The exploits of Onyeka and his team in securing the port against trade malpractices and unlawful imports have led to seizures running into billions of Naira.
Under Onyeka, the tale of incessant interception of illicit drugs at the Tincan Island Port by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has been forgotten because he relies so much on the power of technology encapsulated in the B’Odogwu the Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS) indigenous platform.
As part of the efforts to facilitate trade, Onyeka declared early enough his determination to end the age-long tradition of multiple alert systems for which importers and customs agents have been complaining against. The scenario was a situation in which containers earlier cleared from the system could be stopped at the gate or shortly after the gate over excuses of multiple alerts. This is one policy that has endeared him so much to the stakeholders.
As at the first half of this year, June, the Tin Can Command of the Customs had collected a whopping N747.079bn. Comptroller Onyeka told the media earlier that the Command had been working round the clock to facilitate trade at the ports for the economic wellbeing of the nation. He further hinted that part of the measures he put in place to maximize revenue collection was the introduction of what the Command referred to as the ‘policy of collectable revenue instead of maximum revenue’.
According to him, this is in line with the present administration’s renewed hope agenda for Nigerians. He added that the policy was specifically aimed at promoting and encouraging quick turnover for the importers.
Responding to the issue of multiple alerts, he added that the policy led to the emphasis placed on examination of containers as very necessary to check how compliant the traders are, adding that it has given the Command the needed result.
He explained that the Command spends time to create awareness on the need to keep to the rules of the game, assuring that those who are compliant with trade rules are not choked.
He further explained that once containers were opened for examination, and there was compliance, clearance of such goods was not delayed.
“We do this to promote trade. We have the support of the trading community. We are also working to ensure that the President’s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ on trade succeeds. What we preach is that importers keep to the rules and regulations. By this we talk to our partners, importers and freight forwarders to be compliant if they want the best”, Onyeka once told the media.
Stating that he has already accomplished about 98 percent of what he was assigned to do as a Controller, Onyeka is full of optimism that the Command will meet its N1.5 trillion revenue target for the year considering the revenue figure already recorded. He also revealed that his Command has been enjoying tremendous support from the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi to succeed in the given mandate.
The transformation of the Tincan Island Port business environment within a space of six months has attracted commendations to Comptroller Onyeka from different quarters, including the Presidency, the National Assembly, the Ministry of Finance, the Customs management and the business community.
