Customs to Reps: Fast-track take-off of our varsity

The Nigeria Customs Service has called on the House of Representatives to fast-track the establishment of its university at Badagry to offer specialised training for officers and men of the service. The Deputy Comptroller General in charge of the Customs Training and Doctrine Command, DCG B.S Bomai made the appeal when the House Committee on […]

The Nigeria Customs Service has called on the House of Representatives to fast-track the establishment of its university at Badagry to offer specialised training for officers and men of the service.

The Deputy Comptroller General in charge of the Customs Training and Doctrine Command, DCG B.S Bomai made the appeal when the House Committee on Customs and Excise visited the Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada and other Customs formations in the FCT on Thursday.

He said, like other sister agencies, Customs needs a specialised university for the training of their officers and other stakeholders.

On his part, the Commandant of the Customs Command and Staff College, ACG Kingsley Egu said the college was established in 2011 by the former Comptroller General, Dikko Inde and was designed to offer professional training like what the Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Jaji is doing for the military.

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According to him, the College is designated as a Customs regional training centre for West and Central Africa by the World Customs Organisation.

ACG Egu however noted that, the College, which is also the Training and Doctrine Command of the service lacks the facilities to meet the requirements of its mandate.

Responding, the Chairman of of the Committee, Rep. Leke Abejide told the Customs officers that the Nigeria Customs University, Badagry, would take before the end of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

He assured that the committee will support budgetary proposals by the NCS for the upgrade of the Customs Command and Staff College to international standards.

He also assured that the 11 storey corporate headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service in Abuja, which was commissioned by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 will soon be put into use.

He said, “The level of work is impressive, especially on the last floor. The only area of concern we have is on the outer part where there are little corrections. I reached out to the Comptroller General and he told me that in the next three months, they will start using the facility”.

Rep. Abejide further promised that the House of Representatives is prepared to support the NCS to achieve its set target saying that, the new Customs Act passed by the 9th Assembly was strengthened to smoothen and professionalise Customs operations and career progression in the service.

According to him, the new Act guarantees that every officer can now aspire to become the Comptroller General because it now made it compulsory for the head of the NCS to be appointed from among career officers unlike it was in the past.