Customs boss assures of open door governance during familiarization meeting with Area Controllers, Editors, others
The Acting Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has assured the media and officials of the Service of his determination to run an open door governance system throughout his tenure.
Adeniyi, a Fellow of NIPR and former National Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Service made the promise in Lagos on Sunday in separate familiarization meetings with Customs Area Controllers in Zone ‘A’, Guild of Editors and Maritime Reporters.
Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday, June 19th appointed Adeniyi as Acting Comptroller General of the Service.
“I will open my doors to you. It’s going to be an open governance system. You will have the opportunity to come with your views, share the direction in which the Customs should go. It has been like that when I was PRO, possibly it will even be better now that I am Acting Comptroller General. So I thank you for your support and to let you know that I will be focused because I have learnt from so many of the previous Comptroller Generals, I have worked with them very closely and I’ve learnt expertise in leadership,” the new CG said.
Adeniyi explained that the Service made remarkable progress under past leaders in different areas and he will be consolidating on these achievements.
“In over 10 years, Customs has made some progress, we have broken several grounds on ICT, human resource development, revenue generation and in the next few years, we will be building and consolidating on those grounds and hoping that there are some areas where we will deploy innovative solutions”.
“Collaboration is going to be very strong on the agenda of Customs and this is why we are starting this with our partners in the Media”, he added.
“We will be open to collaborating with our partners in bringing more comprehensive reports to let Nigerians know what our challenges are, what the gaps are, what we can do to bridge those gaps to improve border security and generally, Nigeria”, he emphasized.
Congratulating the new Customs boss, President, of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, Eze Anaba in his speech said Adeniyi’s appointment is a refreshing development. He assured the acting CG of the Guild’s support at all times.
“Your coming on board is a refreshing development and I am sure we will enjoy such interactions, on behalf of my colleagues. I assure you that if you continue this way, the Nigeria Customs Service will have it good in the media”, he said.
“Some people say they’re afraid of the Media but the truth is that, if there’s no communication, if there’s no interaction, there will be miscommunication”, he stressed.
The Acting CG attended the meeting in company of Deputy Comptroller General of Customs Hamza Gummi in charge of Tariff and Trade, DCG Mohammed Abba-Kura in charge of Enforcement, Investigation & Inspection, DCG Jack Ajoku, in charge of Excise, Free Trade Zone & Industrial Incentives, ACG Festus Okun, Zonal Coordinator, Zone ‘A’, among others.
