The Leadership of Adewale Adeniyi as Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service NCS is laced with transparency and accountability, particularly in his quest to bequeath a lasting legacies in the service .
This resulted in matching words with actions from the recently declared first quarter revenue generated by the service that overshot the expected income of each quarter, to meet the 5 trillion target in the current year, 2024.
The accountable activities of the NCS does not stop at revenue generation alone, which is the core mandate of the agency, but had proved it’s mettle in one of the core programs , the E-Auction , a process that was hitherto shrouded in mystery and sharp practices.
This year’s exercise under the leadership of Adeniyi was laced with decorum, particularly from point to point that led to the generation of huge revenue amounting to half a billion.
With the crystal enumeration of both seized items, goods and overtime cargoes abandoned at the ports, hitherto been fraudulently manipulated, Adeniyi adopted a sane measure that became a rallying point to the stakeholders and not feasible in the previous years in the NCS.
Gone where those days when both the officers and men through proxy and stooges re-circled e-auction activities through hijacking of the process, that does not go down well with the public and stakeholders.
For Adeniyi, to sustain the laudable platform meant to sanitize the system, transparency and accountability must be a watch word to the public, particularly at this crucial time when the image of the service have been subject to public scrutiny and debates.
With the new leadership in the Nigerian Customs NCS , efforts must be put in place to restore it’s lost glory and relive true confidence of Nigerians in the service.
With a committee in place appointed by the CG NCS, which screened publicly applicants from over 13, 000 subscribers, with 476 vehicles uploaded on the portal , which 462 won.
With the workable format of auctioning goods to the public along with payment of statutory duties on the vehicles, the service is returning to the part of glory that will earn the prestige and confidence of ordinary Nigerians.
This is against the backdrop of public outcry, insinuations and allegations of manipulation by officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service NCS, appointed by the CG NCS who were men of proven integrity and service delivery.
The decision of the NCS DG to relive e- auction as a platform to dispose vehicles and goods will discourage corruption and smuggling at the ports.
With the establishment of guidelines and procedures, ordinary Nigerians can apply through the process online to own a car or goods of his/her choice provided it is guided by the rules of the game.
With the new format and positive development, no doubt the previous erosion of confidence of the general public in the NCS would have become a thing of the past.
All hands must however be on deck to continue to support not only the transformation agenda of Adewale Adeniyi in the new NCS, but support to transparency and accountability as well as the rule of law backed the operations of it’s act.
For Adewale Adeniyi, the process of rebuilding the NCS away from its traditional and analogue form of rendering its service to the general public is on course, with digitisation as the other of the day, both nationally and internationally.
The E- Auction platform has come to stay, having been tested and trusted with less human activities that will attract public outcry, rather than commendation from the current exercise.
*ABUBAKAR YUSUF writes from Abuja he can be on [email protected].
