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The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has been selected to receive the 2026 International Humanitarian Award by the United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation (UTA) in recognition of his humanitarian leadership and the Service’s corporate social responsibility initiatives.
The award will be presented during UTA’s commemoration of the 2026 World Humanitarian Day on August 20 in Abuja, where Adeniyi will be honoured alongside other distinguished African leaders and business executives.
The announcement was made during a courtesy visit by a UTA delegation to the Customs headquarters in Abuja.
Speaking during the visit, UTA-Nigeria Country President, Ambassador Abigail Amalaha, said the International Humanitarian Award recognises Africans whose policies and interventions have made meaningful contributions to improving the lives of vulnerable people.
She said Adeniyi earned the recognition for driving the Nigeria Customs Service’s flagship “Customs Cares” Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, which has expanded the agency’s community development efforts across the country.
According to Amalaha, the initiative has delivered food and relief materials to vulnerable communities, conducted medical outreach programmes, supported internally displaced persons (IDPs) and orphanages through educational interventions, and implemented empowerment programmes for women and youths.
“Dr. Adeniyi has demonstrated that a revenue agency can also be a humanitarian agency. The ‘Customs Cares’ Initiative has brought succour to thousands of Nigerians and redefined the Service’s relationship with host communities,” she said.
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Responding, Adeniyi described the award as a motivation to deepen the Service’s commitment to humanitarian interventions alongside its statutory responsibilities. “I am deeply humbled by this honour.
It will spur the Nigeria Customs Service to do more for humanity. We remain committed to not only securing our borders and facilitating trade, but also to supporting vulnerable Nigerians and promoting human dignity. I commend UTA for the excellent work it is doing in alleviating the suffering of the less privileged,” he said.
UTA said this year’s World Humanitarian Day celebration will also feature a lecture titled, “Breaking the Cycle: Achieving Lasting Solutions to Humanitarian Crises in Africa and Beyond,” to be delivered by a development and humanitarian expert.
The event will also witness the unveiling of the UTA Social Centre, a community intervention hub designed to provide skills acquisition, healthcare support and welfare services to vulnerable populations.
A delegation from UTA’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, led by its Global Secretary-General, Ambassador Dr. Eya Essif, is expected to attend the event.
UTA is a United Nations-affiliated international non-governmental organisation with Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Established in 1982, the organisation promotes peace, sustainable development, North-South cooperation and humanitarian action, with a focus on women, youths, refugees and internally displaced persons.
