Renewed Hope : Customs Boss applauds emergence of President Bola Tinubu as ECOWAS Chairman
Renewed Hope :
Customs Boss Applauds emergence of President Bola Tinubu as ECOWAS Chairman
…Ready to visit Benin Republic on issues of border security
In tandem with the concept of renewed hope for Nigeria, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, CGC Adewale Adeniyi MFR, has expressed optimism that emergence of President Bola Tinubu as ECOWAS Chairman will promote better regional integration, cooperation, border security and coordinated monetary affairs within the West African sub-region.
CGC Adeniyi, also applauded the appointment of President Tinubu to that exalted position in ECOWAS, even as he described the President as a very good listener, which implies exemplary leadership acumen.
These assertions formed part of the press statement signed by the Customs High Command in Abuja.
CGC Adeniyi, who met the President during a private visit, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, expressed enthusiasm that the appointment coincided with his emergence as the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service.
The CGC informed : “We had discussions regarding what Customs can bring to the table, in terms of actualising the vision of renewed hope for Nigeria, bridging the gaps in revenue generation, enforcement strategies and most importantly, promoting port efficiency, as well as competitiveness.”
According to him, part of the discussions with President Tinubu is to actively engage Customs administrations across the borders, particularly the strategic ones and collaborate to achieve common objectives of border security and regional integration.
The CGC disclosed : “I will be paying an official visit to the Republic of Benin, to have discussions with the Customs Administration of Benin on issues of border security, importation across the border and more importantly, deployment of technological solutions to address complex border problems,” he added.
CGC Adeniyi, also expressed profound gratitude to Mr President for finding him worthy to be the Acting Comptroller General of Customs, while stating that the opportunity to meet with the President was fruitful and engaging.
He went on : “Mr President is a very good listener. We had discussions regarding what Customs can bring to the table, in terms of actualising the vision of renewed hope for Nigeria, bridging the gaps in revenue generation, enforcement strategies, and promoting port efficiency, as well as competitiveness.”
Going further, the Customs Boss assured of a pragmatic move towards decongestion of Nigerian ports to enhance revenue generation, facilitation of legitimate trade and suppression of smuggling.
His words: “I am sure you are very familiar with the Presidential Advisory Council and there is a document which has been made public. Our discussions also centred around aligning the vision of Customs, the activities of Customs in short, medium and long terms with those nobles objectives set out in PAC documents”.
On the rumour of integrating government agencies, the CGC said he was not privy to any information about that yet and further explained; “there is a common base between all the agencies generating revenue for the Country and there are some cross-cutting issues.
“There are some areas where we overlap and there are some areas where we can complement one another, but in terms of bringing the agencies together under one organisation, we are yet to get details of that. We will be waiting to get the details and see how that pans out”.
More so, CGC Adeniyi, explained the on-going processes to review the current situation against the objective of border closure itself, with the assurance that when the borders are fully reopened, it is not going to be the subject of rumour in any way.