By Stephen Ubanna
Barshir Adebowale Adeniyi, MFR, Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, and Chairman, of the 187 -member World Customs Organisation, WCO, with Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, a member country of the European Union, EU, appears to have used his position effectively to present Nigerian views on global Customs issues.
CGC Adeniyi, who has taken advantage of the recent Capacity building session of the Organisation at Brussels to speak out had showcased the Service impact-focused communication model at the Organisation’s 17th session of the capacity building committee which was said to have started on February 25, 2026 and ended on February 27, 2026.
Speaking at the capacity building session at WCO, Headquarters, in Belgium, Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada, a Deputy Comptroller and the Customs National Public Relations Officer, who had made a presentation on ‘’communicating the results of Capacity Building Initiatives More Effectively : Nigeria Customs Experience and Lessons Learned’’, had explained that under the Leadership of Adeniyi, Ph.D, he has deliberately transitioned the Service Public Relations, Unit, from routine activity reporting to evidence story telling that clearly demonstrates reform outcomes and measurable impact on Customs Administrations.
DC. Maiwada, noted that the Service communication reforms framework is structured around the core pillars: institutional capacity building, human resource development, and stakeholder capacity engagement and ensuring that the reforms are not only implemented but clearly understood and trusted.
Using the Time Release Study, TLS, approach, the NCS, spokesperson had highlighted how the Service adopted transparent data presentation tools including infographics, to demonstrate that a significant proportion of cargo clearance delays were attributable to systematic idle time rather than inspection procedures at the seaports, airports and Land border stations.
He had alluded to the fact that this approach has shifted the narrative from defensive explanations to performance benchmarking, thus strengthening shared accountability across the country’s trade ecosystem.
Speaking on the Advance Ruling programme, another reform that had been introduced into the NCS, over the last two years, DC. Maiwada, had confirmed that 83 of such Advance Rulings were issued in 2025 alone while registered accounts grew from 60 in December 2024 to 173 in December 2025, an interval of one year, reflecting a 188.3% increase in industry stakeholders’ participation.
The Customs spokesman, may have shocked participants at the WCO, capacity building session, in Brussels, when he disclosed that the Advance Ruling initiative has accounted for 2.9% of the Service collected total revenue from imports and exported goods valued at about N240 bln in 2025, reinforcing the role of structured communication in promoting predictability and voluntary compliance.
Highlighting the progress that had been made Service under the Authorised Economic Operator, AEO, another major reform that had been introduced by CGC Adeniyi, DC. Maiwada, had revealed that about 120 companies have received full AEO certification.
Given the importance attached to the execution of the AEO programme and to ensure its success nationwide, an additional 3,270 officers were said to have been trained as AEO champions to sustain the implementation of the programme and deepen stakeholder engagement.
The Customs Deputy Comptroller, who has the ears of the CGC, had referenced the deployment of the Unified Customs Management System, UCMS, popular, B’Odogwu, developed by a Nigerian firm to replace the Nigeria Customs Integrated System, NCIS, II, which was a foreign technology, to improve data security, ensure trade transparency and reduce cargo clearance times.
Described as a milestone in digital transformation, supported by continuous sensitization and user engagement, a senior Customs officer who spoke to The Value News online Magazine on condition of anonymity had justified the introduction of the indigenous technology to NCS, operations to system modernization efficiency, replacing expired technology which is no longer in vogue in Custom Administrations worldwide, to boost Customs revenue collection and traders’ compliance.
It was said to have also integrated the new indigenous technology with the nation’s financial institutions and regulatory agencies with ease. DC. Maiwada, may have alluded to regulatory financial institutions like the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which has Olayemi Michael Cardoso, as the governor, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, National Insurance Commission, NIC, Security and Exchange Commission, SEC, Nigerian Stock Exchange Commission, NSEC, and Federal Inland Revenue Services, FIRS, now Department of Revenue, among others.
Putting on the garb of a communication expert, he has highlighted the Customs integrity perception survey as a data -driven tool for strengthening accountability and public trust noting that ‘’integrity management within the Service is now measurable and continuously assessed.
He had encouraged participants at the WCO, Capacity building session, in Brussels, to integrate communication units at the design stage of the reform initiatives, humanize institutional processes, sustain engagement beyond single events and strengthen peer learning across Customs Administrations.
At the end of the WCO, three-day capacity building sessions at the Organisation’s Headquarters in Brussels, LI Yan of the Asian country of China, Customs attaché since 2020 and who had effectively managed both bilateral and multilateral initiatives in the WCO and with key partners was said to have been unanimously endorsed for the position of Chair of the 18th Session of the WCO capacity building Committee.
The Chines Customs attaché, may have won the heart of participants at the WCO, Capacity building Session at Brussels, Belgium, as he was said to have consistently been involved in fostering collaboration and innovation, in the Organisation.
