The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, on Friday 15th November, 2024, lauded the National Coordinator of Operation Whirlwind, Comptroller Hussain Ejibunu, for his outstanding contributions to curbing the illegal smuggling of petroleum products across Nigeria’s borders.
CGC Adeniyi, who made this commendation during the third day of the Comptroller-General of Customs’ 2024 Conference, held at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, praised Ejibunu and his team’s commitment to tackling this menace.
CGC Adeniyi said, “Thank you for the wonderful job which you and your team have been doing to curb illegal smuggling of petroleum products in Nigeria. Ejibunu does very well.”
Earlier in his remarks, Comptroller Hussain Ejibunu highlighted the ongoing progress of Operation Whirlwind while acknowledging the operational challenges, thereby making commitments to double his efforts in fighting against the menace.
He said, “Because we cannot be everywhere at the same time, although we have a few of them that collaborate with us, as I speak now, as of yesterday, we took someone to work, and he was just granted bail, which has never happened before. That is one. We have others who are on the line of going to court.”
Comptroller Hussain Ejibunu, however, emphasized how his team has been enjoying a strong inter-agency collaboration with various government agencies, including the NCS, NMDPRA, NNPC Ltd., and security services in the area of intelligence sharing.
Comptroller Ejibunu, who acknowledged the financial burden associated with conducting the operations, also called for an increase in funding and allocation of vehicles to the operatives of Operation Whirlwind.
He also sought continuous support from all Comptrollers of Customs to enable the operation to curtail the menace of smuggling of petroleum products outside Nigeria.
