Apapa: Untold tale of Nigeria’s income powerhouse, By Gidado Yushau Shuaib

My focus on over with to Apapa was an gaze-opener, offering a firsthand ride of the substantial scale of operations that serve Nigeria’s economy. It reinforced the importance of effective leadership in navigating the complexities of this type of mountainous and most important sector. Apapa is rarely any longer heavenly yet another port in Lagos; it’s some distance a testomony to what would possibly perhaps probably be finished with the particular leadership and dedication to excellence.

Apapa — a reputation that has steadily resonated with me, no longer heavenly as the backdrop for film and TV productions or Nigeria’s once-current Gala Sausage Roll, but extra importantly as the positioning of one in every of Nigeria’s most important port complexes. Nigeria, a nation rich in resources and potential, is dwelling to several valuable ports, including the Lagos Port Complicated, Tincan Island Port, Rivers Port, Onne Port, Delta Port, Calabar Port, and the no longer too long within the past established Lekki Deep Sea Port. Then every other time, so a lot of these ports hang no longer fully realised their potential, final underutilised, despite their strategic importance.

As of late, I traveled to Apapa Port, staring at for it to be admire the utterly different ports I had heard about. The time out, marred by a seven-hour lengthen by a most important Nigerian airline, was a quintessential ride. Lagos is a city execrable for its website online visitors snarls and chaotic atmosphere. Despite my robust reluctance to remain within the mega city, the necessity of the focus on over with outweighed my reservations.

Upon arrival in Lagos that night, I drove straight to Apapa Port. What greeted me was beyond the rest I had anticipated. The sight of over a million containers, towering admire skyscrapers in an American metropolis, was overwhelming. The size of operations was daunting, and my first belief was one in every of incredulity — how would possibly perhaps probably also this type of mountainous logistics community be successfully managed?

Apapa, in total generally known as the epicentre of Nigerian commerce, is the lifeblood of Lagos, the express with the very glorious inner income within the nation. It felt admire a city inner a city, bustling with activities. Ships had been arriving, tankers had been busy ferrying gasoline, and the skyline was dotted with the silos of most important filling stations. The ability was palpable, and for the principle time, I basically understood why Lagos is characterised by its execrable website online visitors jams. The size of economic exercise here is each and every the situation off and the justification.

One of many most striking facets of my focus on over with was the efficiency of the Nigerian Customs Provider (NCS), in particular within the sunshine of as a lot as date sector challenges. Despite a most important decline in cargo throughput at seaports —estimated to hang dropped by larger than 50 per cent — the NCS finished a historic milestone, collecting a staggering N17.9 billion in income in a single day at Apapa Port. This excellent fulfillment was printed by Comptroller Babatunde Olomu, the Customs Condo Controller (CAC) of Apapa Listing, at some stage in a press conference.

Comptroller Olomu attributed this success to the intensified efforts of Customs officers, who were working tirelessly to run income loopholes amid the downturn in cargo volumes. His dedication and effective leadership had been evident, showcasing the particular impression of ongoing reforms within the course of the Customs Provider below the stewardship of Comptroller Total Bashir Adewale Adeniyi.

I even hang acknowledged CG Bashir Adewale Adeniyi since childhood, in particular at some stage in his time with the Forum of Spokespersons of Security and Response Businesses when my father was the manual for the community that ensured interagency collaboration and stopped the occurrence of conflicting experiences within the previous by safety and response companies. His appointment by President Bola Tinubu to manual the NCS was a call I saw as each and every neatly timed and strategic. Below his leadership, the Provider has undergone a transformative length, marked by a spotlight on effectivity, alternate facilitation, and enhanced income skills.

Within the previous, the Customs Provider, admire many change federal companies, was in total criticised for its inefficiencies and the misconduct of its officers. Then every other time, CG Adeniyi’s tenure has signaled the dwell of that skills, ushering in a renewed specialize in provider supply, transparency, and collaboration with stakeholders. His proactive skill to disaster administration — navigating alternate embargoes, fostering community engagement, and addressing operational challenges — has earned him reward from so a lot of sectors.

As a neatly-known fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Public Family members (NIPR), CG Adeniyi has no longer handiest demonstrated an realizing of the most important position that public relations and stakeholder engagement play in customs administration but has also situation a benchmark for impactful leadership within the public sector. His efforts hang repositioned the Customs Provider as a valuable player in Nigeria’s economic resurgence, making certain that the income easy is rarely any longer handiest gargantuan but justifiable.

Interestingly, upon my arrival at Apapa, I was greeted by a cluster of youths on motorcycles — a regular sight in Lagos, no longer no longer as a lot as no longer in clusters. It turned out, here’s a normal sight in Apapa, where kids hobble about their day after day alternate in this form. Good admire its father or mother city, Lagos, Apapa doesn’t sleep; even at midnight, containers scamper inner and out of the port. It was a bustling sight to stare.

Apapa also properties a most important Northern community, which was fully surprising. It is dwelling to Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Bambado, the Sarkin Fulani of Lagos, a neatly-known businessman who was topped Sarkin Fulani of Lagos and serves as the chairman of the Affiliation of Fulani Chiefs in South-West Nigeria. The Northern community is so active that some parts of Apapa felt admire strolling the streets of Gadon Kaya in Kano. On the dwell of our focus on over with, we stopped by Ana Lura for a short dinner and enjoyed a northern delicacy.

My focus on over with to Apapa was an gaze-opener, offering a firsthand ride of the substantial scale of operations that serve Nigeria’s economy. It reinforced the importance of effective leadership in navigating the complexities of this type of mountainous and most important sector. Apapa is rarely any longer heavenly yet another port in Lagos; it’s some distance a testomony to what would possibly perhaps probably be finished with the particular leadership and dedication to excellence. The historic income assortment is rarely any longer heavenly a number — it’s some distance a mirrored image of the potential inner Nigeria’s ports and the parents who arrange them.

Gidado Yushau Shuaib, a communications specialist, would possibly perhaps probably be reached at giddyshuaib@gmail.com.