There are indications that the Zone ‘A’ headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service will be moved to Ogun state.
Even though the hint had been given recently when the Acting Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi visited the Yaba, Lagos headquarters of the zone, the move became clearer on Monday when he visited the 100 hectare-land that had been acquired for both the Service’s training college and the zonal headquarters in Ogun state.
Apart from the sites for the training college and the zonal headquarters, the Customs boss also visited the Government Warehouse and the Ogun state Agro International Airport at Iperu-Ilishan Road in Ikenne Local Government Area of the State.
Speaking at the College site, the Ag. CG of Customs expressed delight at the progress made so far while pledging the Service will be a responsible neighbour to the government of Ogun state.
This is because the both the training college and the zonal headquarters share boundaries.
“We are happy that we are going to be your neighbours, and I can commit to you that we are going to be very responsible neighbours; we are going to operate in a way that will make Ogun state proud”, he assured.
He urged the contractors to work within the time frame of the contract period as the project is going to be very strategic to the future of Customs operations.
“As we try to get our process right, as we try to bring innovation, we now need outstanding infrastructural support to drive these operations”.
“We are going to be very strict with the contract period; we cannot afford the airport to take off too far away before we start here, so we want some kind of development to be happening side by side; I believe that our presence here will add value to the airport, just like we believe that the airport will also add value to us”.
The Ogun State Commissioner of Works, Engr. Ade Akinsanya highlighted the accessibility of the area and the expected period for completion of Agro International Cargo Airport.
“The target for us to get this project ready is the end of the year. The runway is completely done, the control tower is about 90%, and all the equipment needed are completely procured”.
“In terms of capacity, there is enough room to grow, right now we have a warehouse under construction with a terminal building where you will be able to help us man, so things are taking shape and the governor is really pushing up to get everything done by the end of the year.
The Ag. Comptroller General of Customs, in the company of the commissioner, the project manager, as well as his management team, took a tour of the proposed Customs project site and the Agro Cargo International Airport under construction.
