The call was made at the weekend by the senator representing Ogun West District, Chief Tolu Odebiyi during the 3rd TOD Undergraduates Scholarship Award ceremony and launching of the Tolu Odebiyi Foundation in Ilaro.

He said the youths should be employed to assist security agencies.

His words:  ”What I will advise the government to do is to employ the youths of the border communities as border guards to assist the security agencies. They know the terrain well and I am sure they will be of immense assistance to the quest to stop smuggling in the country.”

The senator who commented on the closure of the border said:  “No nation wakes up one day and closes its border indefinitely the way Nigeria is trying to do. We will be hurting ourselves economically. We might cripple some of our local industries by so doing. There are several companies located in Agbara industrial area  who deliberately sited their companies along the axis because they want to exploit the proximity to the border with Benin Republic. I am sure we are already hurting those companies.

”I completely appreciate that smuggling is injurious to our economy and to our local industries, and I must commend the president for his  determination to assist the local industries to grow, but we must be creative in the way we tackle this problem. We must think out of the box. I believe we cannot achieve success with the way we are going. We need the buy-in of the people of the border communities.”

Meanwhile, Odebiyi has offered scholarship awards to 54 tertiary institution students from his district.

He also announced that he had secured the nod of the  Federal Government  to sponsor the Masters and Doctorate degree programmes of  students from the district.

Two students, he said, would be sponsored to pursue   each of  the programmes overseas for  the next four years.

The senator who expressed unhappiness over the activities of some men of the Customs Service in  the border area of Ogun West, suggested that the Federal Government should explore the possibility of engaging youths in border areas in the country as a way of curbing smuggling .

Speaking at the third TOD undergraduates scholarship award ceremony and launching of the Tolu Odebiyi Foundation in Ilaro, Odebiyi explained that he decided to offer the award to ensure that brilliant students from his district were recognised and assisted to excel.

As far as he was concerned, “No student should be allowed to drop out of school on the account of the inability of his parents to fund his or her education.”

The senator explained that each of the 54 students would be given N100, 000 each every year until they graduate from school.

15 of the awardees are presently in first class category with GPA of 4.8 and above.

He added that the postgraduate approval he secured from the Federal Government  for students each from the district to pursue Masters and Doctoral degrees for the next four years was because of the premium he placed on education and youth development.

While expressing sadness over the recent death of some youths in Ihunbo town in Ipokia local government area, he enjoined the security agencies to be more responsive when discharging their duties.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Mrs Shade Odebiyi, in her address explained that the foundation rested on four pillars which are Education, Healthcare, Widow Empowerment and Youth Empowerment.

She noted that the foundation also donated borehole and rehabilitated roads for needy communities in a quest to promote healthy living.

Dignitaries who witnessed the event held at the Yewa Frontier Hotel included the Olu of Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle; the Olota of Ota, Oba Adeyemi Abdulkabir Obalanlege; Aboro of Iboro, Oba Abayomi Salako and the Adokun of Igan-Okoto, Oba Mukaila Salako.

Others at the event were former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Rahman Bello, Professor Tope Popoola, Prifessor John Aihosu, Dr. Dele Ogunsiji and Alhaji Abbas Olanigan among others.

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He made the disclosure in his maiden press briefing held at the headquarters of the command in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

While enjoining Nigerians engaging in legitimate businesses not to exercise any fear in going about their day to day activities, he said the suspects arrested in connection with the smuggling of prohibited items into the country were still awaiting trails.

His words:  “Ten suspects have been arrested in connection with smuggling of prohibited items into the country in the last 11 months. We are having the ten suspects awaiting trails.”

Argungu added that the command in the last eleven months generated the sum of N21.9 billion.

He said further:  “Consequent upon my resumption, I embarked on a familiarisation tour of the command to sensitize O/C outstations patrols leaders and the entire officers on the nerd to re-strategize and re-invigorate our operations by utilizing modern anti-smuggling techniques in accordance with international best practice in order to achieve the laudable goals of the anti-smuggling campaign of the Nigeria Customs Service.

“This has resulted in modest achievement as attested to by the underlisted seizures made by the area command between October 2018 till date.

“Eight used vehicles with duty paid value put at N20,180,876.39k; 3,010 (50kg) bags of rice with duty laid value put at N50, 556,678.25k; 600 (25 litres) kegs of vegetable oil with duty paid value put at N13,537,125.00k; Canabis sativa (Indian hemp) with duty paid value put at 6, 999,776.59; 25 bales of second hand clothing with duty paid value put at N6,443,671.50k and 33 means of conveyance with duty paid value put at N16,125,291.97k.”

He added that the federal government’s efforts in reviving the nation’s economy through local industries and strengthening security, especially at the nation’s borders were of utmost priority to the service.

“The command would do everything humanly possible in accordance with the law to actualise the goals set by the government in this regard,” he said.

He stressed the need to restrategize and reinvigorate the operations by utilising modern anti-smuggling techniques in accordance with international best practice in order to achieve laudable goals of the anti-smuggling campaign of the Nigeria Customs Service.

Argungu said, “The law that prohibits the importation of rice and used vehicles through nation’s border is not new, so, those who claim ignorance of the ban have no excuse.

“Furthermore, due to the recent huge seizure of illicit drugs at the sea ports, it becomes necessary for us to intensify our efforts against illicit drug trafficking through the nation borders with a view to checkmating the influx of illicit drugs through our territorial boundaries.

“Finally, I enjoin patriotic citizens who engage in legitimate business not to entertain any fear for the NCS is only concerned about bringing those who flout extant  Customs and Excise law and regulations to book and enable those who engage in legitimate business to enjoy trade facilitation.”

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