.Effective Collaboration is a Key Driving Force Behind whatever we are doing- National Public Relations Officer, Assistant Comptroller of Customs Abdullahi Maiwada.
ZAINAB JUNAID
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has made significant strides in enhancing its operations in the first quarter of 2025, leveraging technology-driven initiatives and effective collaboration.
Assistant Comptroller of Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, revealed this in an interview on the “Business Daily Program” aired on Trust TV on Tuesday.
AC Maiwada emphasised that the Service has enhanced its relationship management both locally and internationally, while also leveraging technology to achieve its core objectives of trade facilitation, border security, and revenue generation.
While fielding questions on efforts put in place by the Service to deal with difficulty of illicit smuggling, AC Maiwada posited that the agency has taken the bull by the horns, going outside the box to curtail smuggling activities in line with global best practices.
The National Public Relations Officer, Assistant Comptroller of Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada
He cited the success of “Operation Whirlwind,” a specialized team set up by the Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi MFR, to mitigate the illegal transportation and sales or purchase of petroleum products, attributing their achievements to effective collaboration, which he emphasised is a driving force behind their operations.
According to him, “The Service has a critical role to play in suppressing smuggling to the barest minimum. It’s one of our core functions. We look at where we are before, where we are now, and where we intend to be in a year or the nearest future. Since government closed down all borders in 2019, because of the influx of goods that are inimical to the security, we decided to look at anti smuggling in a different perspective in line with global best practices.
“First, we acted on adequate intelligence which could be human intelligence and will make us get our target and achieve successful operations.
“You cannot succeed without intelligence. Now we have concluded that we should avoid more of visibility and focus more on intelligence driven operations. We have started the test running, the CGC had set up an operation where we have to deal with people who export illegal petroleum products outside the country and it’s called Operation Whirlwind. Customs has recorded lots of successes through this team. We collaborated with Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, to get the statistics of trucking. By the time we see a trucker destined for Seme Border facing another route like Ibadan, we know it’s an element of diversion. With the collaboration with NMDPRA we have been able to mitigate the smuggling of Petroleum products.
“We have also intercepted arms and ammunition, drugs, all over the country, seized arms in PHC, and TinCan Island Port. All these are product of collaboration. We receive intelligence even from outside the country which helps track movement of those goods and we intercepted them. This is not magic but intelligence,” he emphasised.
Maiwada informed that the Service has also strengthened its border security capabilities through the deployment of Geospatial technology, an initiative aimed at enhancing surveillance, intelligence gathering, and enforcement across Nigeria’s land and maritime borders.
“We have strengthened our anti-smuggling efforts through the deployment of non-intrusive inspection technology, acquiring six new scanners to enhance detection capabilities. We have mobile scanner at TinCan, one Gantry scanner at Apapa Command, we are doing the civil work before the installation, four baggage scanners expected to be placed at cargo wings of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja, Lagos, Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport Abuja, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano and Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Rivers State.
“The CGC has also directed the collapse of the strike force and power has been restored to Federal Operations Units, FOU, to checkmate what the Command as second layer of defense are doing.
“Why are we doing all these, it is to strike balance between Anti-Smuggling activities and Trade Facilitation. If we have multiple checkpoints along the way, we are impeding trade facilitation. That is why we have reviewed our strategy,” he stated.
While emphasising the importance of collaboration, noting the successes recorded with neighboring countries, including Benin Republic, due to existing cooperation, Maiwada elucidated various types of Customs’ collaborations.
He said, “Collaboration is encompassing, if you look at World Customs Organisation framework of standards, you will see that there are three forms of collaborations which includes– Customs to Customs, as showcased in our collaboration with General Administration of China, our Memorandum of Understanding, MoU with India Customs; we have revived our mutual agreement with US Customs administrative and Border protection agency. These are efforts to ensure there is customs to customs cooperation, which entails sharing intelligence, capacity building etc.
“Secondly, we have Customs to Business Cooperation: By this, we ensure we add value to making businesses flourish for investors while achieving our efforts on regulations as a regulatory agencies.
“Third, is the Cooperation between Customs and other government agencies: if customs want to install scanners in the Seaports today, we need to consult Nigerian Port Authority, NPA, we cannot do it alone. If we want to intercept pharmaceuticals, we need to collaborate with NAFDAC and if it is narcotics, we need NDLEA. We cannot clap with one hand, we have to collaborate with other government agencies. So back to your question, our relationship with Benin Republic, we have recorded successes with Benin Republic because we have an agreement with them.
“The diplomatic angle of our cooperation lies with issues that are diplomatic in nature and we as an agency of the government, we implement policies that are formulated by the government and that’s our role, and we have recorded successes since the signing of the agreement with Benin Republic,” he said.
The image maker further revealed that the Service has developed an indigenous software, “B’Odogwu”, to improve operational efficiency and revenue generation.
“We are making move to improve on what we have used before, we made use of technology, what do we have, better than 2024, a robust and ambitious Trade Modernization Project, TMP, which embodies automation of customs processes and procedures. We have developed a new clearance system, that is, New Customs Unified System called B’Odogwu. B stands for Borders and Odogwu is strength. So it means Strength in the Border.
“An indigenous software developed by customs officers along with Trade Modernization Project, TMP Ltd as the concessionaire and we have done that indigenously, given it an indigenous name and also given it out to an indigene. We own it, unlike what we have before – the asycuda, NICIS 11. This new software is user friendly, we have pilot phase in PTML Command in Lagos and now we are ready to take the bull by the horns. Taking it to Apapa and TinCan. When you get to Apapa and you have 70% of your trade volume, and we are able to get this successfully, then we start to say we are Nigerians. We are doing things in Nigeria. Also as we all know that Stakeholders engagement is key to achieving success, we have decided to work with Officers and Stakeholders in this regards.
“Everything is in line with the policy thrust of the CGC Adewale Adeniyi. For the B’ Odogwu system, we have visited the CBN governor with the CGC, this is because we cannot have a new clearance system without a form M and the form M is owned by the CBN. Also to collect duty you must have an exchange rate and who determines the exchange rate, it is the CBN. This shows that the fiscal and monetary policy are interwoven for success to be achieved. Collaboration thrust is a driving force on whatever we are doing,” he emphasised.
AC Maiwada also highlighted the importance of stakeholders’ engagement and predictability in exchange rates, stating that the service is working with agencies responsible for determining exchange rates to achieve stability.
““Part of the reason we visited the CBN governor was to see to the automation of communication of changes in exchange rate for the purpose of the import, and the CBN governor accepted and he is ready to collaborate with us.
“Our function is not to determine foreign exchange that is used to calculate import but we have a role to play in coming up with a roundtable discussion on how to have a spot rate of the kind of exchange rate for import duty. One of the indices of it to flourish is predictability. If you don’t have predictability, it will definitely affect the importer or exporter. Because as an investor, I will want to know if I invest a particular amount, this is the cost that will Take me to bring it into the market to make profit and if you cannot predict, definitely, you are working for a recipe that will produce a disaster.
So we are working with agencies responsible for that, working together in harmony, submitting our advise to them and you can see some relative stability more than what was experienced in 2023 and early 2024. Which is products of engagement and responsive agencies and we pray it is sustained,” he maintained.
Similarly, the Service has made significant strides in its efforts to modernize and enhance its operations in the first quarter of 2025 with the introduction of Automated Transire Process (ATP), a cutting-edge system designed to streamline customs clearance, reduce delays, and curb cargo diversion.
This development is a testament to the Service’s commitment to leveraging technology to improve its operations and contribute to the growth of the Nigerian economy.
The ATP system, according to NCS was developed in-house by NCS ICT officers, and is expected to significantly reduce customs clearance times, enhance tracking capabilities, and improve accountability.
The Service’s commitment to leveraging technology to improve its operations is a positive development for the Nigerian economy and underscores the importance of innovation in driving growth and development.
