Customs boss seeks Army support, says service strength taken for granted
Customs boss seeks Army support, says service strength taken for granted
The acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, has said smugglers at the border areas are taking the operational strength of his service for granted.
He said this was because his men had been unable to apply commensurate force to the level of security threats in border communities.
As a result of this, he said the criminal elements now believed they could overrun his men.
Adeniyi spoke at the Nigerian Army Headquarters on Monday while soliciting the support of the Army.
Adeniyi said, “In the last 10 years, the dynamics of border crimes have changed. We have terrorists operating on our borders. Drug traffickers continue to use borders to bring in narcotics, which drives the evil agendas of these criminals.
Those who bring in arms and ammunition do so in violation of the law that guides them. We have found ourselves needing to cooperate with the Army. In view of this, I would like to make two requests. We need collaboration with the Army, and we have started it with the training of our personnel. I think we can escalate this collaboration into real operational matters.
“Our officers work daily in border areas and difficult terrain. Sometimes in the course of their operations, they come under attack from smugglers, and hostile communities, and most of the time they are found wanting to apply forces that are commensurate with the level of threats they are exposed to, as smugglers seem to have taken our strength for granted. They believe that they can overrun our officers along the border communities. ”
Adeniyi stated that there was a need to begin to expose his men to joint training operations with the Nigerian Army.
He also pleaded with the Army to conduct a show of force at the border areas to send a signal to smugglers.
Adeniyi said, “We have thought about involving our men in joint training operations with the Nigerian Army. I believe that because of the rich experience the Army has in its theatres, it would be easy to build the capacity of our officers in these border areas. Even if it is just a show of strength to send a powerful message to smugglers that we have our sister agency that can come for our assistance when they come under attack.”
Speaking, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, promised that the Army would ensure focus on border areas to show presence and deter criminals intending to smuggle prohibited items into the country.
Lagabaja said, “We would expand the frontiers of our collaboration. We will collaborate with customs in training and other areas to further enhance the operations of customs along the border areas. We will focus on border areas to show our presence and deter criminals that might want to smuggle contraband into the country.”
He urged the customs boss to grant approval for the repair of the NCS Jetty in Cross River, which he said had become somewhat detached from the body of water.
