Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos, has urged the Federal Government to improve the welfare of security agencies to enable them function more efficiently.
Akiolu said this on Wednesday when the Controller of the Federal Operation Unit (FOU), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Zone “A’’, Ikeja, Alhaji Isa Nuhu, visited the palace in Lagos.
He urged the government to provide all the necessary equipment needed by the security agencies to perform their jobs.
Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos, has urged the Federal Government to improve the welfare of security agencies to enable them function more efficiently.
Akiolu said this on Wednesday when the Controller of the Federal Operation Unit (FOU), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Zone “A’’, Ikeja, Alhaji Isa Nuhu, visited the palace in Lagos.
He urged the government to provide all the necessary equipment needed by the security agencies to perform their jobs.
The traditional ruler said that the gesture would improve security in the country.
The Oba commended the efforts of Customs in the area of revenue collection to assist the Federal Government in achieving its aims.
He also advised the customs controller to show more concern about the welfare of the officers working directly with him.
He urged the officers to upgrade their education, saying that it would assist them on their jobs.
Responding, Nuhu said that the visit was to familiarise himself with the Oba and the palace, adding that the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi, extended regards to the royal majesty.
He said that part of the statutory functions of the customs unit was to enforce the laws of government.
“We have challenges. We realise some of the reasons that bring about this misunderstandings. For instance Kabiyesi, most of the communities around the border areas rightly or wrongly, they believe smuggling is just the normal thing.
“ They don’t see anything wrong with it, I mean it is not as if they are doing it deliberately, it is mainly because they don’t know. They don’t know the ills of smuggling on the society.
“I’m just talking about the communities around the border areas not the professional smugglers now and therefore we now felt that the best way to tackle this is to continuously engage the community leaders on what we call stakeholders education.
“We need to really continuously educate them on the adverse effects of smuggling on the Nigerian economy. “
Nuhu said that he met on ground a good working relationship between customs and the various communities.
He expressed appreciation to Lagos residents for their support, but said that customs officers had issues with the youths.
He, therefore, urged the Oba to assist in addressing the problem of youth unemployment in Lagos.
The traditional ruler commended President Goodluck Jonathan for giving the welfare of the Nigeria Police the desired attention.
Going further, he said, “I will also use this media to appeal to the government; they have started thinking about the police now. “They should not relent; they should do more because with the leadership of the police now, things will get better.
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