By Harriet Tornguvan
In the late hours of Thursday, 25 July 2024, in Abuja, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, led his team to pay an official visit to the Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Musa Adamu, as part of his efforts to foster collaboration with sister security agencies and to develop proactive strategies against corruption by officers and stakeholders.
Addressing the ICPC Boss and his team at the Commission's Headquarters, CGC Adeniyi sought the cooperation of the ICPC Chairman to join hands with the Service in mitigating the root of corruption amongst non-compliant traders and officers, adding, "Our reasons for collaborating with ICPC is so perfect because we consider ICPC as the critical witness of government."
Speaking about his successes in terms of revenue generation since he assumed office in 2023, CGC Adeniyi said, "We've achieved a 70% increase in revenue generation in the last one year; paid attention to our security mandates, and we are doing our best to ensure that we keep the bad guys out of our borders."
Speaking further, he said, "We believe that it is also possible for us to take a second look at areas that are prone to corruption and the integrity gaps by ourselves, to tackle them and bring back the glory of the country in terms of trade facilitation and ease of doing businesses."
The Customs Boss, however, expressed optimism that through forming a strong alliance between the two agencies, their aims to fight corrupt practices will be easier, as it will aid them in discharging their mandates, "So, this is why I felt that we need to put ICPC amongst those critical agencies of government that's we are collaborating with." He added.
The CGC, who saluted the efforts of ICPC in their course of tracking and curtailing corrupt practices in Nigeria, said the Service, under his watch, took a second look at areas that are prone to corruption and integrity gaps in its system, which, according to him, needs the assistance of the commission to mitigate the menace.
He added, "This is why we felt we needed a partnership with an agency like yours to teach transparency into our system. And we believe that, once we make it possible to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the Nigeria Customs Service and ICPC, we will achieve this in a number of ways in terms of specific areas."
On his part, Chairman of ICPC, Adamu, welcomed the CGC and his team, appreciating his move to tie the knot with the commission to mitigate the menace of corrupt practices in Nigeria.
According to him, ICPC has achieved numerous milestones in preventing corruption and paving the way for partnering with stakeholders to ensure a prosperous Nigeria.
He said, "I believe the responsibility to promote the image of this country is reposed on our shoulders, and only through sanitising Nigeria as well as collaborating with NCS, will we achieve greatness."
According to the Chairman, one of the ways to achieve the fight against corruption is to organise capacity building for traders and stakeholders to train them on how to avoid being into what would be considered sabotage to the national economy.
