Give us this day...

God cannot be mocked!!!

Mr Odusina a.k.a James Bond(Vice principal)...Ijebu-Ode Grammar School...2000

I just saw that it is no longer the world record...sighting wind direction!!!

Arkmanbuddy:
He definitely will, but his political career will never be the same again. He'll be alienated from the inner circle of Tinubu and pushed to the outside crowd. He'll have no influence again in the party.

I bet you that some of the infrastructures named after him in Lagos will be renamed in no distant time.

He had been alienated since the dissolution of the mandate group. Osun was to complete the annihilation by reversing government policies by his erstwhile COS and cousin to Jagaban.

Hopeba:
because he's not. Boss iam 31 but I will be calling falz uncle sir,, if I see him

He attended Olashore Intl' School in Iloko Ijesha. His records are there... the guy is 31 years old...

festacman:
If APC survives this shenanigans, it will outlive PDP.

This is where the issue is...
I don't see them surviving this!

Shawshank redemption..

Kingdom is something else...Faith(the guy) is a pure entertainer, Francis and Dotun...

ablejesus26:


Have you been in a situation where you were asked to ans 5 question out of 8, and you don't even have an idea to how you can ans 1

men it's worth crying ooo

This reminds me of Prof Rahman's Structural Geology Part 3 exams(Practical and Theory, 3 hrs each)
OAU Geology and Geophysics students will relate.
Here, crying is allowed oo..cos the invigilators self suffer am too.

odehaj:
Freeze or whatever you call yourself, if I hear pim from your mouth against any Pastor again! Next, repent genuinely, tell your gullible sheeple to do same, start attending a Bible believing church, join service unit of your choice(ushering, choir, etc), register for bible school where you will be taken through the rudiments of salvation & be blessed.

Add tithes and first fruits...It is now complete!!! His name will be written in the book of life!!!
Wetin Musa no go see for gate??

Battery count?
Status:

Is it still available?

https://www.nairaland.com/6029422/osogbo-capital-city-osun-state#92370691

You call this a mistake??

4gunners:
Aregbe is a great mistake the state ever had.

The governor was a chief of Staff to the previous government. That he was not privy to the financial status of the state would be ridiculous to say the least.

Governance is not a tea party. If the Governor signed off for it, he should start rolling his sleaves and get to work. The hand out given by FG on monthly basis would not bring out the best in them.

Amotolongbo:
Don't mind the Governor. Though I don’t blame him cos he has been financially decapacitated by his predecessor through huge debt.

The only serious time teachers were recruited was when some OyinCorps teachers were recruited permanently into the teaching service by Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
Since 2012 when teachers have been massively retiring every year, nothing has been done in the state to replace them except some contract teachers like N-Power and probably O-whatever

Now the state is so deficient of teachers and having to call on already laid off contract teachers by the FG.

This means that the burden of the teaching in the state has been on the Npower teachers.

Thank you Sir. Our prophet on point. They have already started feeling the heat. RIP to the dead..

uzohrome:
They are laughing at their calamities. Time shall tell.

bugzy84:
No worries. Please send your email address to bugzy841@aol.com so I can share a Dropbox link with you.

Received. Thank you so much.

Thank you. I appreciate.

Apologies @Abcruz and @dapkin as I have just seen your message ; I have been away from NL for a while. I will have to get back to you as for some reason I cannot access my yahoo and dropbox accounts.

I will set up another dropbox account and send you both an email address we can communicate with. [/quote]

Dareal90s:
we all do d same, or ar u a saint? He never claimed he is a saint

Of what use is his "presence" at the experience??
I never claimed I am a saint..

ejimatic:
. It is in Nigeria that self acclaimed voices of the masses are avoiding arrest and are jumping bail.IBy implication this man has jumped bail.The DSS has the right to invite them for questioning at any time until the case is resolved.Femi Falana is aware of this .The agency can invite me too if It has a reason to do so.I support democracy which allows protest but not REVOLUTION which will lead to anarchy and loss of lives of the masses.....No string is attached.

If he has been invited for questioning, and he fails to show up, The DSS would seek for a bench warrant from the COURT to arrest him. The COURTS are there to put dictators in check and to strengthen democracy. This is not a BANANA REPUBLIC.

Brandstudio01:
You certainly have no choice but to behave when you find yourself in God's Presence as governor.

Only to leave the "presence" and turn to something else...of what use is that??!!!

Jobabori:

FCE is acronym for Federal College of Education. Name the place where a federal College of Education is located in Osun state.

I never said a federal university is existent in Osun. I only referenced the Osun State University which has a College of Education situated in Ipetu Ijesa. This college is expected to produce teachers as well as trainings, materials and innovation to help ensure quality service delivery in education.

Jobabori:
Kaduna is having a FCE already. Kano is also having two: one in Bichi and one in Kano. There are other states like Osun that are not having a single FCE yet their Senators and HOR members close their mouths. Some of them are there just to collect money not actually to represent their people. Well done Senator Uba Sanni.

Osun has the Osun University, College of Education, Ipetu-Ijesa. The question to ask is; how has the State Government made use of the college in addressing the challenges concerning education in the State? Well...it is not the number of schools that matter, but how well the curriculum, standards and other factors necessary and sufficient for the production of quality teachers is addressed.

You are right... Someone told me about it sometimes ago...and i didn't bother to check.

Wrong,
"Day of the Jackal" was the assassination attempt on then French President Charles de Gaulle[/quote]

The Day of the Jackal!!!

The question is: Have the University management deemed it fit to listen and sought for solution concerning the issues raised? Our leaders don't understand consultations and engagement in resolving issues...what can catch their attention is "confrontation"...

ngwababe:


True talk bro.

Unfortunately...these so-called university management are so vicious in their approach. They would rather go on a wild-goose chase rather than confronting the issues raised head-on.

The case of Olorunfemi Adeyeye of UNILAG comes to mind. Do you know that after suspending him for 4 semesters, and after serving the suspension, he is yet to be re-instated in school(as of 2 months ago). If we cannot air our voices to effect the change we want to see, i wonder the kind of tomorrow we are yearning for. That vicious cycle is what we are seeing playing out in our institutions of learning. Sycophants to VCs get the topmost positions in the university and the godfathers keep dictating to the present management. They tell who to elevate and who to demote, who to promote and who to suspend for frivolous reasons.

It will interest you that a lot of cover-ups happen in the university. If you care to know...check out the numerous petitions to ICPC as concerning the University management. It is people who after playing the good student role, and after studying abroad, comes back and complain of the "unemployable graduate", "bank deductions", "police harassment", " insecurity" and "power issues". Interestingly, while they were students, they chose to play it safe...and would later become victims of the same thing they should have voiced out when they had the opportunity to do so.

How do you expect him to say it? I am sure many would have said this countless times...but to no avail. It is no news that administrations especially in Nigeria only understands "confrontation". That was what he did and attention is shifting towards him. Even if nothing is done to address the problem, we now know what the university administration stands for. No wonder our public universities ranking keeps falling. The results are there staring us in the face. It will get to a point where employers would refuse to employ public varsity students because of the la cram, la pour , la vamoose style proposed by dominique.

Ezymayur:
All this problems was in existence even before I left Funnab, it only persist there after.

He was saying the truth in a wrong way. Manner of approach matters a lot.
" even enemies have respect for themselves "

There is a level of approach/presenting your vengeance in writing that people will listen and come to your aid.

The expulsion was expensive.

But there are no mistakes in life, only lessons and opportunities which must be search into.

I read the expulsion letter...What they should have done is to look into the issues raised by the student(a stakeholder) and act accordingly. Kiki Mordi never had any evidence when she was first harassed by a lecturer but she reported the case to some people who never deemed it fit to stand for her whilst most of them "demanding for evidence". The issues raised by ifemosu are valid because the effects of having poor transportation systems were evident and it could have been from gross incompetence, corruption or misappropriation.

OloladeWrites:

Did you read the expulsion letter at all? That he honored their invitation - does that me he was able to substantiate all the allegations he made about the school?
When he was invited, did he prove it with factual evidence that ass licking was the order of the day? That money meant for transportation was diverted or spent wrongly?

Go into the university, get a degree, and vamoose. When I see comments like these... i wonder the kind of education we are getting in this country. An education that cannot challenge the status quo, an education that cannot question conventions and an education that is la cram, la pour and la vamoose. In femi kuti's voice...I sorry sorry oooo..

dominique:
I feel the epxulsion decision was too steep but he brought this upon himself. You're in school to study, get your degree and vamoose not challenge school authority, even implying that they are thieves



Who doesn't know about the misappropriation and mismanagement of funds going on in our higher institutions? Na only get fingers to type "long long English" (in Mercy Eke"s voice). I feel for him but he brought this mess upon himself

I posted this topic on Dec 31, 2015 copied from
https://www.thecable.ng/undercover-investigation-nigerias-customs-of-corruption-bribery-and-forgery

INTRODUCTION TO CORRUPTION

Samson and I shared experiences. First, I told him my plans for my import business, and when I was done, I asked him: “What is the toughest job you have handled in the last six months?”

“Ah!” he exclaimed instantly. “That was in July 2015, when my uncle tried to bring in a block-making machine.”

For the next 30 minutes or thereabouts, he would talk about a series of artificial bottlenecks devised by Customs officials to exploit the average importer.

The landing cost of the machine, excluding the agency and clearing fees, was $25,000. Now, the duty on an industrial-use machine that cannot be fabricated in-country, such as this, is 5 per cent of the landing cost. But once the machine arrived, Customs officials claimed it was undervalued by the importer and it should have cost no less than $54,000. By doubling the landing cost, they were compelling the importer to either pay twice the original fee to the government or pay them a smaller bribe.

“They claimed that someone had bought the same machine for $54,000, and then demanded a bribe from us if we didn’t want to make a fresh payment,” he says. “But that was a big, fat lie, because the landing cost of the machine is exactly $25,000.”

SHIPPING-LINE CORRUPTION

Most shipping lines are owned by foreigners. And since Nigeria is an import-dependent country, importers are left at the mercy of foreign-owned shipping lines. This is what they do:

“The moment the ship bearing your goods berths, the shipping line immediately sends you a mail that you must clear your goods within three days. They expect you to clear within three days; meanwhile, it will typically take four to seven days for your container to be moved from the ship to the block stacking, where all containers are first kept,” Samson explains slowly, pinstakingly.

“On a ship, you may have 1,000 containers on it. So, imagine if your container was among the last 50, it won’t arrive at the block stacking earlier than the fourth day. Yet, your container is already on the ship when your three-day notice starts reading.”

The consequence is that as early as the fourth day, importers are already being charged for demurrage. On a 20-feet container, the importer pays N7,000 daily from the fourth day, while it’s N11,000 daily for a 40-feet container. Samson considers this practice a “very devilish ploy to exploit Nigerians”.

CORRUPTION BY INSPECTION
As Samson explained, the NCS classifies incoming goods into four: green, blue, yellow and red. Green means the goods are well-trusted and therefore require no examination. But goods imported from suspicious countries, such as Indonesia where drug peddling is high, are classified as ‘red’ and requiring physical examination. So the importer not only pays Customs for physically examining the goods, but also the shipping agency for demurrage while awaiting the date of examination.

“Customs may tell you that your container is on red alert and that your physical examination will not take place until another three days, because there are thousands of containers to be examined.

“You will need to pay Customs to come and open your container and examine; they have made this corruption legal. In my own case, the total payment was N60,000, while we paid N24,000 for the physical examination itself. Meanwhile, shipping lines do not charge you day by day; they charge you upfront, minimum of four days.

“Now, when it’s time for your container to be opened, the Customs officers will tell you to open, even though they know that you actually cannot open the container yourself. Therefore, you are forced to engage the services of their labourers. But before the labourers lift a finger, they demand money – and you have to pay them. Meanwhile, this was one of the things you already paid Customs for.”

EVEN NAFDAC, SSS, NDLEA ARE BRIBED FOR ‘LOOKING’
So, what happens when the container has been opened? Representatives of all agencies go in to check, and each of them collects N1,000 “just for looking”. During the inspection of the block-making machine, “representatives of seven agencies” collected the money, according to Samson.

These are Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), State Security Service (SSS), National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS).

Of course any act of corruption should worry any patriotic Nigerian. But in this case, it is not just the N1,000 but the sheer scale of the sum total of the individual collections. On this day alone, Samson witnessed the inspection of “more than 1,000” containers. By that calculation, each agency went home with an illegal collection of at least N1million.

And it’s hard for importers not to pay the bribe, because failing to pay these officers means that they won’t inspect on the day, which in turn means the importer’s container is moved to another location. When this happens, the importer not only pays a fresh inspection fee, he also has incurred more demurrage charge.

“So, these things are interwoven,” Samson says. “You pay N1,000 bribe to free yourself from maybe N20,000 or N30,000 charge. And if you don’t scale a process, you can’t proceed to the next. You see how complicated it is?”

Aside bribery, there is the danger of a porous system that allows for the illegal importation of arms or other contraband, because once these field officers are paid, they do not inspect; “they just look and tick the papers”.

After this “looking”, photocopies of the ticked Performa Invoice (PI) and the Bill of Lading are taken to the offices of the superiors of these officers, one by one. And when they have signed – most of them also demanding bribe – the documents are taken to the Releasing Officer.

THE RELEASING OFFICER IS LORD

The releasing officer wields enormous powers, especially because he is last in the line. A “no” from him literally nullifies all payments and efforts since arrival of a container. So he makes his money by claiming that the imported goods have been undervalued, and subsequently quoting a fresh, usually-unreasonable figure. He then tells the importer to pay a percentage of the new fee to the government or pay him a lesser fraction, if the goods must be released. Like all other importers, Samson’s uncle fell victim too.

“We bought this machine for $25,000. But Customs already valued it at $54,000, meaning we paid a duty of $2,700 instead of $1,250,” Samson recalls, his face decorated with anger.

“But, all of a sudden, the releasing officer said even $54,000 was an underestimation; he claimed the machine was worth $80,000, and said we had short-changed the Nigerian government.”

Despite all of Samson’s protestations, the releasing officer insisted that 5% of $80,000 had to be paid to the government. And although this calculation itself amounted to $4,000 (N800,000 at the rate of $1 to N200), the officer claimed that by his own calculation, the importer had to pay a whopping N1.5 million to the government. It soon emerged that the Releasing Officer was far from interested in generating revenue for the government.

“He told us we had paid N600,000 out of N1.5million, leaving a deficit of N900,000. He promised to let us go if we paid him one-third of that amount, that is N300,000.

“The tricky part is that if we didn’t pay the N300,000 by 4pm that day, we would not only pay N900,000 the following day, we would miss the following day’s deadline for moving our container, which would mean paying extra terminal and shipping charges. And don’t forget, these charges would not be extended by one day; the extension was for a minimum of four days, and these two costs would be close to N100,000.”

Eventually, the Releasing Officer let them go after collecting – wait for it – a paltry N50,000.

AT THE PORTS, ‘GATE MEN’ ARE POWERFUL PEOPLE
In most establishments, gate keepers are some of the least respected staff, as they are not considered anywhere close to the power brokers. Well, at the Apapa ports, gate keepers are so powerful. And this is why.

The various acts of corruption by officials of Customs and other agencies are all devised to capitalise on the importer’s determination – at times, desperation – to adhere with strict deadlines for movement of goods out of the ports, to avoid paying demurrage. As a result, the releasing officer usually gives his final word a few hours before that deadline.

Now, due to the congestion outside the port gate, it typically takes a truck 12 hours to make its way into the port premises. So, if the men at the gate delay the entry of a truck after the agent has completed the clearing, this deadline can still be missed, which then means all previously-paid bribes have virtually come to nought. Dicey, isn’t it?

Samson says he had to “tip the gate man for him to quickly sign my papers, because if he didn’t on time, I would have missed that deadline”.

That is just one aspect of corruption at the gate. The second happens in front of the gate, where trucks are lined up and each one is in a hurry to be the first to enter. To manage this commotion, Customs engaged a team of soldiers, police, civil defence and navy to organise the truck drivers to maintain a single line.

“When I handed our papers to a truck driver, he told me, ‘Look, this paper expires tomorrow and you’re bringing it at 6pm today. If you really want to move your container, you have to pay us N20,000 for facilitation’. That fee is outside the N70,000 we were to pay to him for moving the container from Apapa to Lagos Island.

“He said to me, ‘We will need to give all these officers something, so that they would pass our own truck and pilot us straight to the gate’. My paper was to expire by 12 noon the following day, so it was either I paid this N20,000 bribe, or I would have to pay fresh terminal and shipping charges that would be roughly N80,000.”

As usual, Samson paid the bribe, and he watched as a soldier collected N5,000 and hopped into the truck to sit by the driver, directing him to head towards the gate. When the driver reached the points that were policed by the navy, police and civil defence officers, he paid them N,5000 each. In a matter of minutes, the N20,000 had vanished and the truck was right inside the port. Yet, this same truck would have been denied entry, despite holding papers clearly stating that the container had to be moved before noon the following day.

What is interesting to note is that Fisayo Soyombo is a household name in investigative journalism. Reading through again I ask these questions:
- Following the damning revelations made in the report, what did the FG do?
- Can we say all or most of the things he found out that was wrong within the Customs have been resolved after about 4 years?
- What approach have the FG adopted so far to stem the corruption issues found in the agency?

I can only hope that the recent revelations as seen in the undercover report of the Prison's system will be given proper attention in addressing the causes rather than polishing the surface.

I posted this topic on Dec 31, 2015 copied from
https://www.thecable.ng/undercover-investigation-nigerias-customs-of-corruption-bribery-and-forgery

INTRODUCTION TO CORRUPTION

Samson and I shared experiences. First, I told him my plans for my import business, and when I was done, I asked him: “What is the toughest job you have handled in the last six months?”

“Ah!” he exclaimed instantly. “That was in July 2015, when my uncle tried to bring in a block-making machine.”

For the next 30 minutes or thereabouts, he would talk about a series of artificial bottlenecks devised by Customs officials to exploit the average importer.

The landing cost of the machine, excluding the agency and clearing fees, was $25,000. Now, the duty on an industrial-use machine that cannot be fabricated in-country, such as this, is 5 per cent of the landing cost. But once the machine arrived, Customs officials claimed it was undervalued by the importer and it should have cost no less than $54,000. By doubling the landing cost, they were compelling the importer to either pay twice the original fee to the government or pay them a smaller bribe.

“They claimed that someone had bought the same machine for $54,000, and then demanded a bribe from us if we didn’t want to make a fresh payment,” he says. “But that was a big, fat lie, because the landing cost of the machine is exactly $25,000.”

SHIPPING-LINE CORRUPTION

Most shipping lines are owned by foreigners. And since Nigeria is an import-dependent country, importers are left at the mercy of foreign-owned shipping lines. This is what they do:

“The moment the ship bearing your goods berths, the shipping line immediately sends you a mail that you must clear your goods within three days. They expect you to clear within three days; meanwhile, it will typically take four to seven days for your container to be moved from the ship to the block stacking, where all containers are first kept,” Samson explains slowly, pinstakingly.

“On a ship, you may have 1,000 containers on it. So, imagine if your container was among the last 50, it won’t arrive at the block stacking earlier than the fourth day. Yet, your container is already on the ship when your three-day notice starts reading.”

The consequence is that as early as the fourth day, importers are already being charged for demurrage. On a 20-feet container, the importer pays N7,000 daily from the fourth day, while it’s N11,000 daily for a 40-feet container. Samson considers this practice a “very devilish ploy to exploit Nigerians”.

CORRUPTION BY INSPECTION
As Samson explained, the NCS classifies incoming goods into four: green, blue, yellow and red. Green means the goods are well-trusted and therefore require no examination. But goods imported from suspicious countries, such as Indonesia where drug peddling is high, are classified as ‘red’ and requiring physical examination. So the importer not only pays Customs for physically examining the goods, but also the shipping agency for demurrage while awaiting the date of examination.

“Customs may tell you that your container is on red alert and that your physical examination will not take place until another three days, because there are thousands of containers to be examined.

“You will need to pay Customs to come and open your container and examine; they have made this corruption legal. In my own case, the total payment was N60,000, while we paid N24,000 for the physical examination itself. Meanwhile, shipping lines do not charge you day by day; they charge you upfront, minimum of four days.

“Now, when it’s time for your container to be opened, the Customs officers will tell you to open, even though they know that you actually cannot open the container yourself. Therefore, you are forced to engage the services of their labourers. But before the labourers lift a finger, they demand money – and you have to pay them. Meanwhile, this was one of the things you already paid Customs for.”

EVEN NAFDAC, SSS, NDLEA ARE BRIBED FOR ‘LOOKING’
So, what happens when the container has been opened? Representatives of all agencies go in to check, and each of them collects N1,000 “just for looking”. During the inspection of the block-making machine, “representatives of seven agencies” collected the money, according to Samson.

These are Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), State Security Service (SSS), National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS).

Of course any act of corruption should worry any patriotic Nigerian. But in this case, it is not just the N1,000 but the sheer scale of the sum total of the individual collections. On this day alone, Samson witnessed the inspection of “more than 1,000” containers. By that calculation, each agency went home with an illegal collection of at least N1million.

And it’s hard for importers not to pay the bribe, because failing to pay these officers means that they won’t inspect on the day, which in turn means the importer’s container is moved to another location. When this happens, the importer not only pays a fresh inspection fee, he also has incurred more demurrage charge.

“So, these things are interwoven,” Samson says. “You pay N1,000 bribe to free yourself from maybe N20,000 or N30,000 charge. And if you don’t scale a process, you can’t proceed to the next. You see how complicated it is?”

Aside bribery, there is the danger of a porous system that allows for the illegal importation of arms or other contraband, because once these field officers are paid, they do not inspect; “they just look and tick the papers”.

After this “looking”, photocopies of the ticked Performa Invoice (PI) and the Bill of Lading are taken to the offices of the superiors of these officers, one by one. And when they have signed – most of them also demanding bribe – the documents are taken to the Releasing Officer.

THE RELEASING OFFICER IS LORD

The releasing officer wields enormous powers, especially because he is last in the line. A “no” from him literally nullifies all payments and efforts since arrival of a container. So he makes his money by claiming that the imported goods have been undervalued, and subsequently quoting a fresh, usually-unreasonable figure. He then tells the importer to pay a percentage of the new fee to the government or pay him a lesser fraction, if the goods must be released. Like all other importers, Samson’s uncle fell victim too.

“We bought this machine for $25,000. But Customs already valued it at $54,000, meaning we paid a duty of $2,700 instead of $1,250,” Samson recalls, his face decorated with anger.

“But, all of a sudden, the releasing officer said even $54,000 was an underestimation; he claimed the machine was worth $80,000, and said we had short-changed the Nigerian government.”

Despite all of Samson’s protestations, the releasing officer insisted that 5% of $80,000 had to be paid to the government. And although this calculation itself amounted to $4,000 (N800,000 at the rate of $1 to N200), the officer claimed that by his own calculation, the importer had to pay a whopping N1.5 million to the government. It soon emerged that the Releasing Officer was far from interested in generating revenue for the government.

“He told us we had paid N600,000 out of N1.5million, leaving a deficit of N900,000. He promised to let us go if we paid him one-third of that amount, that is N300,000.

“The tricky part is that if we didn’t pay the N300,000 by 4pm that day, we would not only pay N900,000 the following day, we would miss the following day’s deadline for moving our container, which would mean paying extra terminal and shipping charges. And don’t forget, these charges would not be extended by one day; the extension was for a minimum of four days, and these two costs would be close to N100,000.”

Eventually, the Releasing Officer let them go after collecting – wait for it – a paltry N50,000.

AT THE PORTS, ‘GATE MEN’ ARE POWERFUL PEOPLE
In most establishments, gate keepers are some of the least respected staff, as they are not considered anywhere close to the power brokers. Well, at the Apapa ports, gate keepers are so powerful. And this is why.

The various acts of corruption by officials of Customs and other agencies are all devised to capitalise on the importer’s determination – at times, desperation – to adhere with strict deadlines for movement of goods out of the ports, to avoid paying demurrage. As a result, the releasing officer usually gives his final word a few hours before that deadline.

Now, due to the congestion outside the port gate, it typically takes a truck 12 hours to make its way into the port premises. So, if the men at the gate delay the entry of a truck after the agent has completed the clearing, this deadline can still be missed, which then means all previously-paid bribes have virtually come to nought. Dicey, isn’t it?

Samson says he had to “tip the gate man for him to quickly sign my papers, because if he didn’t on time, I would have missed that deadline”.

That is just one aspect of corruption at the gate. The second happens in front of the gate, where trucks are lined up and each one is in a hurry to be the first to enter. To manage this commotion, Customs engaged a team of soldiers, police, civil defence and navy to organise the truck drivers to maintain a single line.

“When I handed our papers to a truck driver, he told me, ‘Look, this paper expires tomorrow and you’re bringing it at 6pm today. If you really want to move your container, you have to pay us N20,000 for facilitation’. That fee is outside the N70,000 we were to pay to him for moving the container from Apapa to Lagos Island.

“He said to me, ‘We will need to give all these officers something, so that they would pass our own truck and pilot us straight to the gate’. My paper was to expire by 12 noon the following day, so it was either I paid this N20,000 bribe, or I would have to pay fresh terminal and shipping charges that would be roughly N80,000.”

As usual, Samson paid the bribe, and he watched as a soldier collected N5,000 and hopped into the truck to sit by the driver, directing him to head towards the gate. When the driver reached the points that were policed by the navy, police and civil defence officers, he paid them N,5000 each. In a matter of minutes, the N20,000 had vanished and the truck was right inside the port. Yet, this same truck would have been denied entry, despite holding papers clearly stating that the container had to be moved before noon the following day.

What is interesting to note is that Fisayo Soyombo is a household name in investigative journalism. Reading through again I ask these questions:
- Following the damning revelations made in the report, what did the FG do?
- Can we say all or most of the things he found out that was wrong within the Customs have been resolved after about 4 years?
- What approach have the FG adopted so far to stem the corruption issues found in the agency?

I can only hope that the recent revelations as seen in the undercover report of the Prison's system will be given proper attention in addressing the causes rather than polishing the surface.