… Honors officers
By Matthew Denis
In a bid to enhance professionalism and strengthen operational services, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Services, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi has unveiled additional key performance indicators to evaluate yearly achievements of the service.
He made the disclosure while making his opening speech at the event in commemoration of the World Customs Organization Day (WCO) 2025 held in Abuja on Monday.
The CGC said “This significant occasion provides us a vital platform to evaluate our achievements of the preceding year, reinforce our commitments, and strategically position ourselves for the evolving demands of customs administration across nations.”
According to him the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) theme for 2025, “Customs Delivering on its Commitment to Efficiency, Security, and Prosperity,” perfectly encapsulates the foundational mandates of the NCS.
“These core responsibilities -facilitating legitimate trade, securing our national borders, and fostering economic growth – form the bedrock of our operations. Our strategic approach harmoniously balances trade facilitation with robust security measures, directly
contributing to Nigeria’s economic advancement.”
Adeniyi summoned that looking ahead, guided by this year’s theme, our strategic vision aligns seamlessly with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s policy direction and global customs best practices, focusing on transformative initiatives that will revolutionize trade facilitation and enforcement.
He said “The nationwide trade
modernization deployment, comprehensive AEO program implementation, enhanced technology-driven risk management, and the groundbreaking establishment of the Nigeria Customs Service University for Trade and Technology will serve as additional key performance indicators (KPI) as we evaluate our achievements at the end of the year.”
The Customs Boss acknowledged the Service’s unprecedented
achievement of ₦6.1 trillion in revenue collection, coupled with significant
security interventions, exemplifies our practical commitment to these mandates.
He stressed that in pursuit of operational efficiency, the Service has made significant strides in modernizing our processes and procedures. Our commitment to efficiency is
evidenced by several key achievements over the years.
“Notably, the successful implementation of the Advanced Ruling System, providing binding decisions on
classification and valuation before shipment arrival, thereby reducing clearance delays and disputes, is one of the resent reference to our efforts to deliver efficiency. Moreover, the remarkable success of our Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program, which has achieved an average release time of 43 hours for certified companies, representing a 66.9% reduction in cargo clearance time is another recent instance.
“Over the years the Service has modernised its processes
to make the trading experience soothing for Nigerians. Late last year we
announced the indigenous development and deployment of our customs clearance platform, ‘B’Odogwu’, which has already processed transactions worth billions in revenue with its pilot phrase.
Adeniyi noted that in terms Security, globally there is increasingly a complex interplay between illicit trade, technological advancement, and transnational criminal networks.
“We have intensified our response to evolving narcotics threats, particularly addressing the shift from traditional narcotics to pharmaceutical and synthetic drug abuse. In 2024, this resulted in 105 seizures of narcotics and illicit drugs.
On environmental protection he explained that their enforcement actions against wildlife trafficking, illegal timber trade, and hazardous waste smuggling saw significant success, with 76 seizures of animal/wildlife products valued at N5.93 billion.
The highlights of the programme was bestowing honors to outstanding officers and men by CGC for their exceptional performances at their various units of operations.
