By Stephen Ubanna,
For years, the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, under the leadership of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, has been considered one of Nigeria’s most scrutinized institutions. Alongside other major Organizations like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, the National Assembly, the Judiciary, and the Nigerian Police Force NPF. The NCS, particular, has long been viewed through a lens of suspicion regarding its operations and transparency.
Former president Muhammadu Buhari, had been thinking along this line that he had appointed Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel as the Comptroller General of the Service, in September, 2015, with a mandate ‘’to clean up the high level of Corruption in the Service’’.
However, upon assumption of office, Col. Ali may have found a different reality. While corruption existed, it became evident that many officers and personnel were navigating the system with integrity, working diligently to support Nigeria’s trade facilitation, boost revenue generation, and carry out anti-smuggling operations, often at significant personal risk, particular, in border regions close to the neighbouring Republic of Benin and Niger.
Despite the perception of widespread corruption, the NCS under Buhari’s administration successfully pushed revenue collection into the trillion-naira range, prompting closer scrutiny. This may have influenced the decision by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to deploy its corruption prevention tools such as the Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard, EICS, across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, MDAs, including the NCS.
The EICS initiative, designed to promote ethical values and highlight weaknesses in internal controls, has been embraced by the NCS. Under Comptroller-General Adeniyi’s leadership, the Service has committed to reinforcing ethical standards and aligning with anti-corruption protocols.
On Wednesday, June 18, 2025, the CGC, who had beamed his searchlight at the Customs Commands at the nation’s seaports and Land border stations including the Commands, overseeing the Excise Factories and Free Trade Zones, FTZ, at various locations, across the country , was said to have received a high-level delegation from the anti-graft agency for ‘’the deployment of EICS and the Anti-corruption and Transparency Unit, ACTU, Effectiveness Index, AEI.
The engagement, according Abdullahi Maiwada, an Assistant Comptroller and the Service, spokesperson, was held at the Headquarters, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, stressing that ‘’it underscores the Comptroller General’s commitment ‘’to institutional integrity, ethical compliance and improved service delivery in line with Federal Government, FG, anti-corruption directives’’.
Isah Umar, an Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, ACG, in charge of Headquarters, who was said to represented the CGC, to receive the ICPC, Team, had described the exercise as a welcome initiative and ‘’reaffirmed the Service’s readiness to partner with the ICPC, in strengthening its internal systems’’.
Describing the deployment of the ICPC, ethical officers to the NCS, ACG, Umar, who could not hide his feelings had said that the oversight process to evaluate ethics and integrity levels across MDAs, is a welcome development.
He may have gladdened the heart of the agency officials when he stated that its ethical and integrity values align with the Service broader reforms in the last two years aimed at ensuring ‘’professionalism, accountability, and citizen-focused service delivery’’.
The ACG, Customs Headquarters, had alluded to the fact that CGC. Adeniyi. Led, Management had carefully reviewed the ICPC. requirements of the assessment and assembled all the relevant documentation before their visit. He was said to have urged the antigraft Team ‘’to critically review the documents that had been presented by the Service for scrutiny’’, stating that the Service ‘’remain open to collaboration for continuous improvement’’.
Comptrollers Emmanuel Oshoba, of the Customs Intelligence Unit, CIU and Hanniel Hadison, Special Duties, who were said to lend their voice to ACG. Umar’s remarks, noted that the Service had since the deployment of the EICS, officials to the agency ‘’institutionalized its anti-corruption messaging, monitoring compliance and promoting transparency within the Service’’.
In apparent response to CG. Umar and other Customs top officials’ remarks, Umar Sani, Head of the ICPC delegation, was said to have told those that cares to listen that ‘’the deployment of the EICS and AEI, tools to MDAs, including the NCS, is part of the Commission’s annual preventive strategies ‘’to ensure adherence to ethical standards’’.
The ICPC, top official had said that the deployment of the ethics and Compliance Scorecard and the ACTTU, Effectiveness Index, is a preventive tool ‘’to ensure that MDAs, including the NCS, are compliant with institutional ethics and procedures’’.
He further stated that ‘’it evaluates transparency and accountability structures and assesses the strength and the internal systems’’. He was said to have explained that the: EICS, evaluates MDAs, using four major components which are ‘’management and culture, financial management system, and ACTU Effectiveness Index’’.
Given an insider information, he emphasized that the ACTU, domiciled in all the MDAs, across the country, ‘’plays crucial role in sensitizing staff against Corruption and supporting ethical practices through structured channels in collaboration with the ICPC’’.
