Tiko Chief of Customs gets media recognition

The Chief of Customs for the Tiko Unit of the Southwest Customs Sector, Aboubakar Danglady, was recently given an award by the Pan African Journalists Association.

Danglady’s award was handed over to him in Tiko by the Publisher of the Douala-based Media Group, Mosaiques Internationale, Machia Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Gamal Nasser said the award was conferred on him as the best performing Manager within the Customs Sector during the just ended 2015.

The award came on the heels of the celebrations of the 2016 edition of the International Customs Day in Cameroon, which took place in Tiko and was chaired by the General Director of Customs in Cameroon, Edwin Fongod.

Fongod’s choice of Tiko was also in recognition of what the Tiko Customs Chief has been doing to raise money for the State.

During the 2015 fiscal year, the Tiko Customs unit raised over FCFA 600 million as duties. In a bid to recognise and give Danglady a push, the Customs Director decided that Tiko should host the 2016 International Customs Day celebrations in Cameroon.

The conferment of an award, just a few days after the celebration, was, according to the Customs Chief, a “call for me and my collaborators to work even harder.”

Danglady said this was the second award in just a few days, and the message of the awards was saying the same thing; congratulating him and his collaborators.

The award was handed over on the sidelines of a strategic meeting which the Customs Chief had convened with transporters of goods from the Tiko wharf and other economic operators within the Tiko Customs area.

Danglady said his aim for the meeting was to build a working and collaborative relationship. He said that given the success of the unit in 2015, they have been tasked to raise at least FCFA 1 billion for the fiscal year 2016.

To succeed, he went on, there is a need for all stakeholders to be acquainted with the working principles and rules of the customs services.

The Customs Chief unveiled a good consignment of illegally imported drugs, non-biodegradable plastics and other provisions that had been seized a few days earlier.

The Chief said they can succeed if the transporters can help them identify those importers that try to smuggle in such outlawed goods, such as the non-biodegradable plastic bags.

The President of the transporters union at the Tiko ports, Elias Fomukong Teyong, said he was very impressed with the meeting and hailed the Customs boss for the initiative.

He said he was thankful, because, through the efforts of the Customs Chief, they now have a new warehouse at the Tiko ports, which importers can conveniently secure their goods.

He said their main problem now was the access road to the Tiko port which is an earth road and easily develops pot holes and gullies during the rainy season making transportation difficult.

Danglady admitted that the road was a problem and expressed the need for service vehicles andincreased security cover since they are operating along the coastline.