By Chike Okey Iroegbu
This write up is dedicated to ACG Nnadi Dera mni for this platform only. Dera as we all refer to him has made Nekede proud within his stint in the Nigeria Customs Service. I personally got into confrontation with him as a
Deputy Comptroller in charge of Enforcement at Tincan Island command when against every odd, I wrote to eulogies him. Dera did not receive that publication with joy as he forbids that. He wanted heavens to fall but I told him that his antecedents and exploits cannot be neglected by a seasoned Journalist like me. For him, he only forgave
me because of my age and he finally appreciated me but warned me not to publish him while he has some seniors. Little did we realise that we are alumni of this great Institute, College of Technology, Owerri. When I narrated the incident to some of my colleagues, they all confirmed that he avoids much publicity. It was not long after that incident that he was promoted as a substantive comptroller and redeployed to Ogun 1 Customs Area Command, Idiroko, Ogun State. It was a ploy to harness
the experience he had gathered as an enforcement officer at Tincan. After a while at Idiroko, he was sent to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies NIPSS, Kuru for a course which came out successfully with the cherished appellation mni. My major opening with Dera came up on his redeployment to Seme Border Area Command, a command similar to the former one and my area of concentration. At Seme, Dera exhibited the experience he had gathered all these while. The command which met its waterloo after closing and subsequent reopening of the Nigerian borders started breathing again on the redeployment of Dera to the command. One thing led to the other and our identities as old
boys were revealed. Since then I have monitored Dera on his leadership and exploits on Trade facilitation in the Nigeria Customs Service and I am very, very proud of him. It has been one accolade or the other. At Seme border, he made the annual target two months before the end of the year. He restructured the area before his redeployment. For this superlative records, the Comptroller General of Customs, CGC Adewale Adeniyi MFR, considered him suitable to handle the second biggest command in Nigeria, the Tincan Island Sea Port Command with the mandate to generate annual revenue running into trillion of Naira. Dera loves challenges, he therefore did not only succeed as the first Customs Area Controller to earn a Trillion
Naira plus at Tincan but also renovated and turned the command to a 5-star state of beauty as a man with an eye for aesthetics which earned him a prestigious award from the Comptroller General of Customs. Dera made his mark as a former Public Relations Officer in the service and with his beautiful perforce as a PRO, he became a darling to the pen pushers. Dera came to Tincan Island Command, he saw and conquered. Today all these have earned him the elevated position of Assistant Comptroller General of Customs ACG. What prompted this write-up is that for the past one week or so,
messages of honour have been pouring in but I have not seen any one from the Alumni. Is this the case of a prophet not without honours except among his people?
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