Dimka’s directive re-deploying all Customs operatives manning unapproved check points came barely a week after he took charge at the nation’s most commercially viable and busiest land frontier.
For traders and members of the Seme business community, Dimka, by his audacious move to dismantle the illegal checkpoints has broken over two decades old jinx as successive Controllers who led the command never wanted to do so for what many described as selfish purpose.
The checkpoints had over the years remained ubiquitous and have increased to such an alarming rate that transacting legitimate businesses along the Seme-Lagos axis became nightmarish with stakeholders alleging Customs officers used the roadblocks as avenue for multiple extortion and harassment.
The checkpoints also caused hellish traffic snarl along the axis, which led to loss of man hours. The illegal checkpoints soon became a national embarrassment as foreign nationals coming into Nigeria through Seme were often harassed by the seeming lawlessness of Customs officers manning the checkpoints.
Commenting on the latest development, Lasisi Fanu, a lawyer and Chairman elect of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) commended Dimka for the feat while describing the radical change as unprecedented in the history of the area.
At a meeting with importers and agents, Dimka, an anti-smuggling Chief, was said to have assured the trading public and travelers that the checkpoints will never spring up again under his watch as Area Controller at the border.
Over 300 Customs men who hitherto split themselves into small pockets to man the unapproved checkpoints along the axis have been redeployed into bush paths to patrol and maintain anti-smuggling surveillance on a 24-hour shift arrangement.
Dimka believes anti-smuggling operations is largely intelligence driven as smuggling never ebbed along the Seme-Lagos axis despite the heavy presence of Customs operatives.
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