Mohammed Shosanya
The Acting Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service(NCS),Adewale Adeniyi,has expressed the Service readiness to partner collaborate the National Center for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) in the fight against the trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria.
He spoke when the coordinator of the National Center for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Maj. Gen. Abba Muhammad Dikko (rtd.), visited the Customs Headquarters in Abuja.
He said,thisnot the first time Nigeria Customs Service has been contributing to eradicating the menace of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons,as the Service,on several occasions, made seizures of such illicit substances often concealed in bags of rice and other legitimate products.
He recalled that the Service had in the second week of August 2023, succeeded in intercepting over 1,000 live ammunition concealed in 203 bags of foreign rice in Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital.
Appreciated the National Coordinator for leading his team to visit the Service’s Headquarters to partner with him,he emphasized the need to venture more into intelligence and data sharing.
“We will be looking forward to having a deeper collaboration with the centre in terms of your database. First, I wish to inform you that I am happy that your agency is doing well”,he said.
He also assured that the Nigeria Customs Service will do everything possible to synergize with the Agency through the secondment of more Customs Officers to work with the center.
“In terms of intelligence,I believe that you’re ready for it. We also do have a formidable intelligence unit, and most of the seizures that have been credited to Customs are done through gathering credible intelligence.” He added.
In his remarks,Maj. Gen. Dikko, congratulated Adeniyi on his appointment and described the Service as a substantial pillar in pursuing illicit arms in society.
He commended the efforts made by the Nigeria Customs Service in the area of intercepting illicit flow of arms through the Nigerian borders and further emphasized that it helps in securing the Country and the citizens.
“We all know that Nigeria is suffering from a myriad of insecurity-related issues of different sorts, and the key catalyst that has continued to fuel this insecurity is the availability of small arms, and without the help of Customs, we will not have a lovely and safer environment”,he said.
