The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has honoured 21 of its personnel and some of its partners with certificates of excellence for their diligence and exceptional performance in duties and assignments.

The awards were presented yesterday at the NCS headquarters as part of activities to mark the 2025 International Customs Day.

The Comptroller-General (C-G) of NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, congratulated the awardees and urged them not to relent in their efforts.

Adeniyi described World Customs Day as an opportunity for the service to evaluate its achievements in 2024, reinforce its commitments, and strategically position itself to meet the evolving demands of customs administration globally.

The Tide source reports that the International Customs Day is organised annually on Jan. 26 by the World Customs Organisation (WCO).

It aims to acknowledge the role of customs officials and agencies in maintaining border security, facilitating trade, and collecting customs duties.

The C-G stated that the 2025 theme, ‘Customs: Delivering on its Commitment to Efficiency, Security, and Prosperity,’ aptly captures the core mandates of the NCS, which include facilitating legitimate trade, safeguarding national borders, and promoting economic growth.

“The service’s unprecedented achievement of ?6.1 trillion in revenue collection, coupled with significant security interventions, exemplifies our practical commitment to these core initiatives mandates.

“In pursuit of operational efficiency, the service has made significant strides in modernising our processes and procedures,” he said.

He stated that its pilot Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme has reduced cargo clearance time by 66.9 per cent, with an average release time of 43 hours for certified companies, in addition to modernising its processes.

According to him, like other customs administrations, the NCS focuses on several critical risk domains identified by the World Customs Organisation.

The domains include anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, cultural heritage protection, drug trafficking, and environmental protection.

He said the service was strengthening its technological infrastructure through the integration of geospatial technology and advanced detection methods and the deployment of sophisticated scanning systems at key ports, among other measures.

“Looking ahead, guided by this year’s theme, our strategic vision aligns seamlessly with President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s policy direction and global customs best practices.

“Which focuses on transformative initiatives that will revolutionise trade facilitation and enforcement.

“The nationwide trade modernisation deployment, comprehensive AEO programme implementation, enhanced technology-driven risk management, and the groundbreaking establishment of the NCS University for Trade and Technology will serve as additional key performance indicators.

“As we evaluate our achievements at the end of the year,” he said.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, in his remarks, acknowledged the NCS’s role in driving economic growth, security, and prosperity through its professionalism in fulfilling its duties.

Musa urged sustained collaboration with the service by reinforcing partnerships, sharing knowledge, and drawing on collective expertise to improve customs processes and bolster security measures.

Assistant Comptroller-General Dera Nnadi, in charge of Strategic Research and Planning, said that the award winners demonstrated capacity through efficient service delivery and enhancing security for economic prosperity.

Nnadi commended other customs officers for their dedication to duties and resilience in the face of challenges, noting that their contributions were key to the success achieved by the service in 2024 and previous years.