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From Uche Usim, Abuja
Former National Public Relations Officer and a retired Comptroller of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr Joseph Attah, has applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to appoint Mr Adewale Adeniyi the acting Comptroller General of the Service.
In an interview with Daily Sun, on Thursday in Abuja, Attah said Adeniyi is best suited for the coveted position because he has over 30 years experience in Customs administration covering strategic and operational responsibilities.
Attah said Adeniyi is a very knowledgeable and experienced Customs officer that has enjoyed enormous training and eventually became a trainer.
“Again, there’s hardly any Customs officer today that I know of that enjoys robust goodwill, respect from the global Customs community like Wale Adeniyi. He has been active in international engagements since his days as a PRO through other positions till date. “So, the Nigeria Custom Service today is not having only a professional Customs officer, as a leader, but one that enjoys vast goodwill and by the grace of God, the support of stakeholders, both within and outside the country. “He is the man whose voice will resonate and count in the global community of Customs administrations. He is indeed the right person for the job because he knows the Service inside out.
“As an Officer who had the privilege of working directly under him for more than a decade, I understand and know his approaches to official matters. “He is a man who is very thorough, he is a man who respects superiors and subordinates alike, he’s a team player. So, I already know that officers will enjoy a kind of all-encompassing leadership.
I do not see regionalization; I do not see a tendency to run administration based on certain inclinations that are not good for the Service.
“Rather, I see a Comptroller General who will be a father to all. I have worked under him and I can say this much about him”.
Attah added that the new Customs boss possesses a deep understanding of the complex and constantly evolving international trade landscape, urging the federal government to harness Adeniyi’s rich professional credentials and character to take the Nigerian economy to the next level.
He added: “One area, which I think can be a low hanging fruit for the government is to to answer the call for the reopening of the remaining closed land borders.
“You know that I was the Spokesperson for the Exercise Swift Response. I led the strategic communication team that went round the country, holding town hall meetings, making media appearances and all that. Call me the chief marketer of the exercise swift response and you will not be wrong.
“It was a decision that was right by the federal government. It was a bold decision. It was a decision that yielded so many positive results in terms of stemming the tide of smuggling of foreign rice and reasonably controlling the influx of irregular migrants and importation or exportation of things that were capable of compromising or further complicating our security and economic situation.
“So, the objectives were largely achieved but there are some land borders that are still closed.
Before even the closure, there was this restriction on important of vehicles to sea ports and not through the land borders. meaning that border commands cannot collect duty on vehicles because they’re not expected to allow vehicles to come in, neither should they collect duty.
“When the border closure started in August 2019. With aggressive awareness, campaign, engagements and all that, we eventually won the hearts and minds of the stakeholders and indeed our people. Today, more than three years after, I am not sure that the border community dwellers are still willing to give our security agencies the level of support they gave earlier because what they thought was an ad-hoc decision and effort to deal with an emerging situation appeared to remain long or too long affecting some of their legitimate cross activities.
This situation may lead to sabotages. Security forces will have to contend with a lot of sabotage and so on and so forth. And you know, we have porous borders.
“When these people decide not to support you, they can always give information about your movement to smugglers, give information about everything you do to the traffickers; including showing them certain creeks or certain bush paths which they will help to create for them to pass and also dismantle. So, I think that the purpose for that policy has been largely achieved and to create a situation that will smoothen trade relationship and even Customs to Customs relationship with our neighbours.
Perhaps, the reopening of these borders would help in that direction and I’m saying this much because of the confidence I have in the new Comptroller General, whom as I said earlier, enjoys goodwill of heads of Customs, not only within the region, but even beyond the region.
“So, I think that reopening of these borders would send a positive signal of the willingness of our country to open a new chapter in our trade relations, in our border management approach and ultimately smoothen Customs to Customs relationship”, Attah explained.
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