Comptroller Gambo Aliyu Pays Courtesy Visit To NDLEA, Police, Alake Of Egbaland
By Asuquo Nuwak
Comptroller Gambo Aliyu Pays Courtesy Visit To NDLEA, Police, Alake Of Egbaland
••• As FOU, Zone ‘A’ intercepts two tones of cannabis in three months
The Customs Area Comptroller of the
Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’, Ikeja-Lagos, Comptroller Gambo Aliyu, recently paid strategic courtesy visits to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Ogun State Command, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, and the paramount ruler of Egbaland, the Alake, Oba (Dr.) Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, to deepening interagency collaboration and traditional institution partnerships in the war against smuggling and drug trafficking along the Ogun corridor.
The visits which took place across Ogun state, came on the bases of significant seizures of over 4,000 packages of cannabis indica within three months within its jurisdiction, with a combined weight exceeding two tones by
Comptroller Gambo Aliyu and his team.
Comptroller Gambo Aliyu who addressed the Ogun state Commander of NDLEA, disclosed that 60 percent of the intercepted drugs originated from the Ogun corridor, 20 percent from Seme-Badagry axis, and the remaining 20 percent from the Oyo/Osun corridor.
He noted that the recent coordinated onslaught against illicit drug smuggling had cause a painful cost of the death of one of his officers.
He said since he assumed duty on the 10th of December 2025, him and his team have taken out over 4,000 packages of Cannabis Indica along the corridor with a combined weight of over 2 tonnes.
The report said, this development underscores the importance the unit place on keeping the bad guys out of play, adding that together the unit can achieve much greater heights and Nigeria would be better off.
He reaffirmed the unit’s commitment to the Comptroller-General’s mandate of zero tolerance for illicit imports, stressing that inter-agency cooperation was indispensable to dismantling smuggling supply chains.
In his response the NDLEA Ogun state Commander, Commander Tijani Rabe, described the visit as unprecedented, noting that it was the first of its kind since the command was created, and a signal of the unit expansive operational understanding.
Commander Tijani Rabi is quoted as saying that customs and NDLEA, I wouldn’t say they are twins, they are not. They are like a bigger brother and a younger brother. He referenced the historical roots of both agencies and the narcotic unit that existed within customs before NDLEA’s establishment under Decree 49 of 1989″.
Tijani Rabe, who assured of full collaboration, also said the visits such as this open windows for strategic collaborations, adding that this visit has sown a seed of professional collaboration between NDLEA and the Federal Operations Unit, that it hardly would not exist without the unit
Commenting during the visit at the Ogun State Police Command, the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo commended the NCS for its border security efforts, while acknowledging shared challenges, including the killing of customs officer by smugglers, a matter he said the police were still investigating.
CP Lanre Ogunlowo is quoted as saying that: “We don’t have a choice than to continue working together. Our work in Ogun state is very excellent, all the agencies have different mandates, but we work together so well based on inter-agency cooperation”.
He also noted concerns raised by the Ogun state Assembly over the proliferation of checkpoints, adding that steps were being taken to address the issue.
Accordingly, he said in Ogun state, when they get intelligence in the border area, they share with their colleagues, and this has given them relative peace.
During the visit at the palace of the Alake of Egbaland, Oba (Dr.) Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, Comptroller Gambo Aliyu appealed for the royal institution’s moral authority in the fight against smuggling and drug abuse, describing the twin vices as threats to the nation’s youth and economic fabric.
However, the Alake commended the customs unit for sustaining federal revenue targets and keeping unwholesome goods out of circulation.
The Alake of Egbaland is quoted as saying that: “I know what you go through all the time, it is not easy to collect revenue from people. It is not easy to be an agent of government collecting duty. There are some people in this state that are Fayawo (smugglers), we have continued to educate them to get a better job, to give them another occupation so that they would stop dodging customs officers”.
The highpoint of each visit was the presentation of souvenirs to the heads of the respective agencies and to the Alake of Egbaland.
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