The Acting Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has emphasized the intention to proactively enhance awareness regarding the operations of the service.
He made this declaration during his presentation titled “Addressing Public Relations Challenges in the Nigeria Customs Service” at the 17th International Public Relations Congress on Wednesday, August 16, 2023.
Adeniyi stressed the significance of cultivating curiosity to foster a more profound comprehension of the service’s functions.
“We discovered that in so many cases, people are always very ignorant of what we do, and it is based on the ignorance that they’re impatient to criticise us”, he said.
“So, we will also want to make a deliberate action to create awareness and let people have knowledge about what we do”, he stated.
On Customs Strategic Communication Plan, the Ag. CGC says, “It has been our culture to complement our vigorous appearances with a consistently soothing voice in line with the overall corporate objectives”.
“The strategy of putting the media in the middle is something we do to ensure we get our information across to the people.
The Customs Chief also emphasized the significance of the Customs Community Consultative forum in addressing challenges that are giving rise to conflicts, particularly in border regions.
This platform, as described by him, involves high-ranking officers and management members from Customs Area Commands on one side, and representatives from traditional institutions, community leaders, traders’ unions, and youth leaders on the other side.
“This program featured periodic engagement with traditional leaders, meetings with associations, traders, and youth leaders, dialogues, identifying their problems, and showing them what the laws say, what is permitted, and what is prohibited. We laughed, prayed, and talked with them without compromising professionalism”, he noted.
“In a couple of years, major issues causing crises, clashes, and conflicts have been mitigated, majority of the communities became at peace with Customs activities, and we became at peace with the community residents”, he revealed.
“I must confess that this CCF initiative has been very successful, especially in border states, evidenced in Ogun, Katsina and Lagos, where this strategy has miraculously stemmed the rate of conflicts. The secret of this success, dear friends was not ammunition but communication”, he emphasised.
The Acting CGC also emphasized that the Customs community relations strategy extends beyond mere communication forums. The service has actively undertaken collaborative endeavors aimed at fostering community projects with wide-reaching benefits, extending to border communities and beyond.
Notable examples of such initiatives encompass the Karu Hospital, recognized as the flagship Customs CSR program, as well as the establishment of the NCS Primary and Secondary School in Idiroko, among various others.
“We are also working on a deliberate recruitment plan for the indigenes of border communities into the Nigeria Customs Service.
We believe there are gaps, and we can do better”, he noted.
