Hadiza Idris Kuta Endorses Maritime Journalists’ Visit, Award to Oyebamiji, Describes Initiative as Patriotic, Well-Deserved.

The Niger State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Hadiza Idris Kuta, has thrown her full weight behind the planned visit and award presentation to the Immediate Past Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Osun State APC governorship candidate, Mr. Bola Oyebamiji, by the Coalition of Maritime Journalists.

 

Kuta, who previously served as the Commissioner for Transportation in Niger State, described the honour as well-deserved and patriotic, noting that Oyebamiji’s contributions to the development of inland waterways and support for the media deserve recognition from stakeholders in the maritime sector.

 

She recalled her experience working with a section of the Coalition of Maritime Journalists led by veteran journalist, Mr. Frank Meke, during her tenure as Commissioner for Transportation, describing the engagement as richly rewarding.

 

According to her, the visiting maritime journalists demonstrated a high level of professionalism, intellectual depth and engagement, while their presentations and subsequent reports following the visit were brilliant, balanced and impactful.

 

“These reports did not only reflect a proper understanding of the transportation and maritime landscape, they also contributed positively to governance and policy direction in Niger State,” she said.

 

Kuta further disclosed that during the fact-finding visit of the maritime press to Niger State, the Coalition held strategic meetings with the Deputy Governor and five other commissioners, following a directive from Governor Mohammed Umar Bago.

 

She noted that the governor was particularly excited by the depth and seriousness of the engagement, describing the visit as timely and insightful, adding that the successful interaction was largely influenced by the groundwork and reforms put in place during her tenure as Commissioner for Transportation.

 

Speaking on her current role, the Commissioner said she has hit the ground running at the Ministry of Women Affairs, mobilising women across the state and embarking on visits to hospitals and health facilities to assess conditions firsthand.

 

She explained that part of the ministry’s early interventions includes ensuring that sick women receive timely medical attention, while also taking inventory of the needs of health workers and caregivers, with concrete plans underway to support and strengthen their capacity to deliver quality care.

 

Kuta reaffirmed her commitment to people-oriented governance and inclusive development, stressing that strategic collaboration with professionals, including the media, remains key to achieving sustainable progress in Niger State. Idris Kuta Endorses Maritime Journalists’ Visit, Award to Oyebamiji, Describes Initiative as Patriotic, Well-Deserved

 

The Niger State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Hadiza Idris Kuta, has thrown her full weight behind the planned visit and award presentation to the Immediate Past Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Osun State APC governorship candidate, Mr. Bola Oyebamiji, by the Coalition of Maritime Journalists.

Kuta, who previously served as the Commissioner for Transportation in Niger State, described the honour as well-deserved and patriotic, noting that Oyebamiji’s contributions to the development of inland waterways and support for the media deserve recognition from stakeholders in the maritime sector.

She recalled her experience working with a section of the Coalition of Maritime Journalists led by veteran journalist, Mr. Frank Meke, during her tenure as Commissioner for Transportation, describing the engagement as richly rewarding.

According to her, the visiting maritime journalists demonstrated a high level of professionalism, intellectual depth and engagement, while their presentations and subsequent reports following the visit were brilliant, balanced and impactful.

“These reports did not only reflect a proper understanding of the transportation and maritime landscape, they also contributed positively to governance and policy direction in Niger State,” she said.

Kuta further disclosed that during the fact-finding visit of the maritime press to Niger State, the Coalition held strategic meetings with the Deputy Governor and five other commissioners, following a directive from Governor Mohammed Umar Bago.

She noted that the governor was particularly excited by the depth and seriousness of the engagement, describing the visit as timely and insightful, adding that the successful interaction was largely influenced by the groundwork and reforms put in place during her tenure as Commissioner for Transportation.

Speaking on her current role, the Commissioner said she has hit the ground running at the Ministry of Women Affairs, mobilising women across the state and embarking on visits to hospitals and health facilities to assess conditions firsthand.

She explained that part of the ministry’s early interventions includes ensuring that sick women receive timely medical attention, while also taking inventory of the needs of health workers and caregivers, with concrete plans underway to support and strengthen their capacity to deliver quality care.

Kuta reaffirmed her commitment to people-oriented governance and inclusive development, stressing that strategic collaboration with professionals, including the media, remains key to achieving sustainable progress in Niger State.

 

By Deji Adesogan

Nigeria is approaching the decisive phase of its long internal security struggle. By 2026, the country can no longer afford a security doctrine defined by containment, reactive deployments or temporary suppression of threats posed by Boko Haram, ISWAP and entrenched bandit networks. The moment now calls for leadership capable of ending wars, not merely managing them. In Lt. Gen. Waheed Shaibu, Nigeria has a Chief of Army Staff whose career, command philosophy and operational posture point clearly toward that necessary shift from endurance to elimination.

Lt. Gen. Shaibu is a soldier shaped by war rather than theory. His professional formation occurred largely in frontline operational environments, especially in the North East, where Nigeria’s counter-insurgency campaign has been most prolonged, complex and unforgiving. Over years of direct command, he confronted Boko Haram and later ISWAP at periods when both groups were highly adaptive, mobile and lethal. Those encounters gave him a granular understanding of insurgent tactics, terrain exploitation, logistics, intelligence deception and the psychological dimensions of asymmetric warfare. Among troops, long before his rise to the highest office in the Army, he earned the enduring nickname “bush colonel” a title reserved for officers whose courage, presence and leadership under fire are proven in combat rather than conferred by rank.

That battlefield credibility now anchors his authority as Chief of Army Staff. Since assuming office three months ago, Shaibu has consistently rejected the culture of distant, desk-bound command. Instead, he has chosen visible leadership from operational theatres, engaging frontline units and field commanders directly. This approach is neither ceremonial nor symbolic; it is doctrinal. In modern counter-terror warfare, command presence accelerates decision-making, sharpens situational awareness and enforces accountability across the chain of command. It also sends a clear signal to troops that the leadership understands the risks they face and shares in the burden of the fight.

Central to Shaibu’s command philosophy is his insistence that troop welfare is an operational necessity, not a concession. He understands that sustained offensive campaigns require soldiers who are motivated, properly supported and confident in their leadership. By prioritising welfare, morale, rotation policies and living conditions, he is deliberately preparing the Nigerian Army for prolonged, high-tempo operations across multiple theatres. Armies that neglect their soldiers lose momentum; armies that invest in their troops retain endurance, cohesion and fighting spirit. As Nigeria moves toward 2026, this approach is foundational to any credible strategy of decisive force.

Equally significant has been his emphasis on merit-based postings and appointments. Drawing from hard lessons learned in combat, Shaibu recognises that poor leadership decisions cost lives, squander momentum and concede territory. Under his leadership, competence, experience and operational performance increasingly define command responsibility. This is not administrative reform for its own sake; it is combat reform. Against enemies that exploit leadership gaps, weak coordination and slow responses, a merit driven command structure restores institutional confidence and strengthens the Army’s operational backbone.

Strategically so far, Shaibu’s leadership signals a clear departure from episodic offensives toward sustained dominance of the battlespace. His record suggests an approach focused on denying terrorist groups freedom of movement, dismantling leadership and logistics networks, and preventing regeneration after tactical defeats. Against BokoHaram and ISWAP, this implies relentless pressure, intelligence led targeting and uncompromising control of reclaimed terrain. Against bandit formations, it points to coordinated, mobile operations designed not merely to disperse criminal groups, but to permanently degrade their capacity to regroup, rearm and terrorise communities.

What distinguishes Lt. Gen. Shaibu at this juncture is clarity forged by experience. He does not view Nigeria’s enemies as abstract threats or briefing-room statistics. He has faced them in combat, observed their patterns and understood where previous campaigns achieved results and where they stalled. That knowledge positions him to lead not another cycle of attrition, but a campaign oriented toward strategic finality. His leadership reflects an understanding that wars against insurgents are not ended by pauses, but by pressure sustained until adversaries lose the capacity to recover.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to appoint Shaibu as 25th Chief of Army Staff of the Nigerian Army increasingly appears strategic rather than symbolic. As Nigeria finally approaches a year that may redefine its internal security trajectory, the Army is being led by a commander whose authority rests on battlefield legitimacy rather than rhetoric. Shaibu brings together offensive instinct, troop centred leadership, merit driven command and strategic realism qualities that align precisely with the demands of the moment.

If fully empowered and consistently supported, 2026 can mark Nigeria’s transition from managing insecurity to dismantling it. Under Lt. Gen. Waheed Shaibu, the Nigerian Army is positioned not merely to react to threats, but to dictate tempo, dominate terrain and impose irreversible outcomes. For Boko Haram, ISWAP and organised bandit networks, the message is increasingly unmistakable: the era of accommodation and survival through adaptation is drawing to a close. The remaining variable is not leadership, but resolve. Decisive military outcomes require sustained political will, timely logistics, intelligence integration and institutional unity. Nigeria now has a Chief of Army Staff prepared to lead from the front and prosecute the fight to its logical conclusion. What remains is the collective responsibility of the state to match that readiness with unwavering support.

As Nigeria stands on the threshold of 2026, the choice before the nation is no longer whether decisive action is necessary, but whether it will be sustained. With Lt. Gen. Waheed Shaibu at the helm, the opportunity exists to move from containment to control, and from control to elimination. If that opportunity is seized, 2026 may be remembered not as another year in a prolonged terrorism, but as the moment the balance finally shifted in favour of the Nigerian state.

Deji Adesogan, is a security analyst and digital communications expert. He can be reached via adesoganmedia@gmail.com or on X (Twitter) @DejiAdesogan.

The Ogun I Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has recorded an unprecedented anti-smuggling breakthrough, intercepting contraband goods with a total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of ₦2,006,008,898.00 within just 11 days of the assumption of office by its new Customs Area Controller.

This milestone was disclosed on Tuesday, 17 December 2025, during the maiden press briefing of the Ag. Customs Area Controller, Deputy Comptroller Oladapo Afeni, held at the Command headquarters in Idiroko, Ogun State.

Deputy Comptroller Afeni, who assumed office on 4th December 2025, described the seizures as the highest ever recorded within such a short period in the history of the Command, underscoring a renewed resolve to combat smuggling, economic sabotage, and trans-border crimes.

Addressing journalists, partner agencies, stakeholders, and officers of the Service, the Controller reaffirmed that the Command under his leadership would operate a zero-tolerance policy against smuggling, driven by intelligence, professionalism, and inter-agency collaboration.

“From my first day in office, I made it clear that Ogun I Command will not tolerate economic sabotage. Our strategy is firm, fair, intelligence-driven, and uncompromising,” he said.

He attributed the success to intensified surveillance, enhanced risk profiling, deployment of actionable intelligence, and cooperation with sister security agencies and host communities.

Among the notable interceptions were: An Iveco truck (RMY-354-XA) conveying 4,998 cartons of Doga Spaghetti (10kg) and 419 cartons of Oba Spaghetti (10kg) illegally imported from Turkey; A DAF truck (JHN-590-XA) carrying 2,200 kegs of 25-litre vegetable oil of Indonesian origin.

The combined DPV of the food items stood at ₦291,260,000, while the seized trucks used as means of conveyance were valued at ₦220,000,000. The Controller warned that such unregulated food imports pose grave health risks, having bypassed mandatory quality and safety checks.

Other seizures made across multiple locations in Ogun State included: Crystal Meth (Ice): 11 wraps (12kg); Heroin: 16 wraps (16kg); Cannabis Sativa: Donut size – 128 wraps, Coconut size – 2,752 wraps, Booklet size – 401 wraps, Totalling: 3,373 wraps weighing 1,502kg. Also Premium Motor Spirit (PMS): 6,750 litres; Foreign parboiled rice (50kg): 4,738 bags; Foreign-used vehicles: 2 units; Used pneumatic tyres: 309 bundles; Means of conveyance: 8 units. The seizures were recorded across the Idiroko/Owode, Ipokia, Imeko, Abeokuta, Lusada/Ado-Odo, and Abule-Kazeem/Igbo-Ora axes, among others.

Deputy Comptroller Afeni described the narcotics seizures as particularly alarming, given their implications for youth development, public health, and national security. Citing the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report 2025, he noted that cannabis remains the most abused illicit substance globally, with one in three users requiring treatment.

“These seizures are not just statistics; they represent lives saved and communities protected,” he stressed.

Despite being primarily an enforcement-driven Command, Ogun I Customs also generated ₦27,291,861.00 in revenue as of 16 December 2025, reflecting improved compliance by legitimate traders. In line with inter-agency protocols, the seized narcotics were formally handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Idiroko Special Area Command.

Receiving the exhibits, NDLEA Commander Ekundayo Williams Omoniyi, on behalf of the Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd.), commended the Customs Controller for strengthening collaboration between both agencies. “This is a spectacular seizure. If these drugs had entered society, especially during this festive period, the consequences would have been devastating,” Omoniyi said, assuring that investigations would be intensified to trace and arrest those behind the consignment.

During an interactive session, the Controller disclosed that postings within the Command would be merit-based and performance-driven, adding that Customs operations under his watch would prioritize trade facilitation without compromising enforcement. “We rely heavily on intelligence. Legitimate trade will not be delayed, but contraband will not slip through,” he emphasized.

Deputy Comptroller Afeni expressed deep appreciation to the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, for his visionary leadership and support, while commending officers of Ogun I Command for their courage and dedication.

He also acknowledged the role of traditional institutions, community leaders, informants, youth groups, and the media in enhancing operational success.

Afeni issued a stern warning to smugglers and their collaborators, declaring that Ogun I Command remains vigilant, proactive, and fully prepared to protect Nigeria’s economic and security interests. “Smugglers should steer clear of Ogun I Command. We will sustain this momentum with integrity, courage, and professionalism,” he said.

The press briefing was attended by representatives of sister agencies, key stakeholders, and officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service.