By Sabiu Abdullahi
The Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, has called on customs officers to honor their oath of service and fulfill their national security mandate.
Speaking during an operational visit to Apapa on Thursday, June 4, 2024, Adeniyi emphasized the critical role of customs officers in safeguarding the nation’s borders.
“The declarations made by these people who go through our desks are inside our system. What it means is that we have an onerous responsibility to address the national security emergency that we face in Nigeria,” he said.
The CGC recalled recent seizures of arms and military accoutrements at Lagos Airport and Onne Port, stressing the need for officers to prevent illegal items from entering the country.
He urged officers to maintain the highest level of integrity, as their actions can be traced and attributed to them.
“We work with a system that has track and trace. What each and all of you do with our system can be tracked. It can be traced. We can attribute them to you in the next seven years or beyond. What you do not do can also be attributed to you, so either way, we can be located and called upon to account for our actions and inactions,” he warned.
Adeniyi stated that anyone traced or caught on the wrong side of the law would not be spared. He urged officers to live up to their responsibility, emphasizing that revenue, trade facilitation, and national security are crucial mandates that must not be failed.
“I, therefore, urge you to live to your responsibility; this nation is ours, revenue is important, trade facilitation is important, we are getting it right on those ends, and we must not fail on our mandate of national security. So the responsibility lies with all of us to live up to the oath of service, the oath of allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he stressed.