Nigeria Customs Enlists Ooni of Ife, Top Yoruba Rulers in Grassroots Outreach Push
Deputy Comptroller of Customs Wale Adewole, who serves as Acting Customs Area Controller for the Oyo/Osun Area Command, made the rounds this week, calling on three of the region’s most prominent monarchs — the Ooni of Ife, the Ogunsua of Modakeke, and the Ataoja of Osogbo. The visits were more than ceremonial. Officials are betting that the moral weight these rulers carry within their communities can translate into better intelligence, greater compliance with trade laws, and a chill on the informal smuggling networks that have long undermined Nigeria’s customs revenue.
Speaking at the palace of the Ooni — which he described as a monument to Yoruba civilisation — Adewole made a direct appeal for royal backing in curbing illicit trade and protecting legitimate commerce. The message was the same at each stop: Customs cannot do this alone.
The outreach reflects a broader strategic calculation. Southwest Nigeria sits astride busy commercial corridors and informal cross-border trade routes where smuggled goods — from rice and textiles to petroleum products — regularly slip through. Formal enforcement alone has proven insufficient. By embedding Customs within the social fabric through relationships with traditional leaders, the agency hopes to gain the kind of ground-level intelligence that checkpoints and patrols cannot easily generate.
