Customs Poised For Fourteen-Digit Revenue Collection In 2025 — Adeniyi

…Appreciates Independent Award

Buoyed by the success achieved in revenue collection that saw the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) surpass the target of N5 trillion set for it in 2024 within just six months, Mr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), on Wednesday, in Abu­ja, assured that the agency is primed for fourteen-digits figure this year.

 This, he said, would be achieved without the Customs compromising its primary job of policing the nation’s border posts to check smuggling and illegal importation of prohibited items, illicit drugs and consummables, dangerous arms and ammuni­tion, among others.

Adeniyi, who spoke while re­ceiving the official letter for the award of Public Servant of the Year 2024 (Federal) by Indepen­dent Newspapers from its Man­aging Director/Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Steve Omanufeme, said the service would rely on technology to get the job done.

He recalled how last month, men of the NCS relying on state of the art technology, from its Abuja headquarters successfully tracked several jerrycans of fuel being smuggled out of the coun­try, passed the information to the men on ground, leading to the sei­zure of the consignment.

The CGC ascribed whatever successes the agency has achieved so far under his watch in less than two years to his working very closely with seven successive holders of that office over the past three decades.

“I have worked with seven Comptrollers-General of Customs since 1990. I have learnt from them what made them thick… what worked for them and what didn’t work,” he added.

These invaluable lessons, he continued, “have helped me to set my priorities in creating an envi­ronment that makes everyone see himself or herself as working in a team for a collective goal from the moment I was appointed.”

Working as as team, he en­thused, “can only motivate us to do better.”

Going down memory lane, Adeniyi told the team of editors that included Kingsley Ighom­wenghian, Managing Editor, and Opeyemi Soyombo, chairman, Editorial Board, that “at different points in my career, there are so many touch points the Customs has always had with the public… All our actions and inactions have always had repercussion for pub­lic order.”

This may perhaps have influ­enced the designation of 2025 as the Customs’ year of Corporate Social Responsibility with a team already working on vari­ous engagements with different stakeholders within the year in what may be a bid to bring out the human face of the service as an agency that cares about the well being of the people.

As part of this initiative, he said the NCS is also looking at the various Sustainable De­velopment Goals (SDGs) like poverty alleviation, healthcare, education, skills acquisition, and sports development. In the area of sports, Adeniyi recalled how the Nigeria Customs in the glorious past had very success­ful teams that were defending champions in basketball (male) and volleyball (female).

“We are reviving our foot­ball team to ensure we impact our society through sports,” he stressed.

Expressing sincere gratitude to the editors of Independent Newspapers for finding him wor­thy as recipient of an award so early in his tenure, Adeniyi appre­ciated the fact that the media and the Nigerian public are observing the little contributions the agency is making for the good of the coun­try and economy.

For him, “I have always seen my sojourn in the Nigeria Cus­toms Services as an opportunity for service to my fatherland.

“This is a very remarkable time for me, because I just re­turned from receiving an award bestowed on me by the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS),” he noted.

Speaking earlier, Mr. Omanufeme said the award was based on the ongoing transfor­mation in the NCS, which has seen national revenue soar astro­nomically, following which the three-tiers of government have seen sizeable growth in month­ly receipt from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

This, he added, has enhanced the capacity of government at all levels to meet their obligations, render improved services to the people, and “the economy is better for it.”

To achieve this, he said the Customs has continued to po­lice the nation’s border posts and combat smuggling, even as staff motivation has been enhanced.

He congratulated the Comp­troller-General for finally com­pleting and opening the massive Customs headquarters edifice after several years of efforts by his predecessors.