‘Customs, Govt Agencies Must Collaborate to Achieve Fiscal Policies’

The Customs Area Controller of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Comptroller Emmanuel Edede has called on all stakeholders at the International Airport to cooperate with officers and men of the NCS in order to achieve the fiscal/economic policies of the federal government. Speaking during courtesy visit to heads of federal government agencies at the international airport, the CAC said his visit was meant to seek their cooperation and understanding so that Customs could effectively carry out its duties at the airport while also giving their support to other agencies to succeed. Edede said no agency of government can achieve anything by working alone, appealing to all agen- cies to support his command especially in the area of revenue collection and suppression of smuggling. Specifically, the Comptroller noted that all federal government’s agencies have their mandates to implement. To achieve this, he stressed that all agencies of government need to collaborate by sharing timely intelligence that could assist all agencies in carrying out their duties. In his words: “In Adamawa where I am coming from, the military and Para-military agencies had a good inter-agency relationship. Intelligence was promptly shared-especially as regards smuggling and Boko Haram. This to a large extent helped to improve revenue and reduced smuggling significantly.

The Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS), Security Agencies, Nigerian Air Force (NAF), The Police, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and National Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) were the agencies the CAC visited.

All the agencies pledged their support and cooperation to Customs. Head of the NIS at the airport, Comptroller Usman said Immigration and Customs have a long history of mutual cooperation which he promised to sustain and improve on.

He assured the CAC that officers of the NIS would accord customs all necessary support in the discharge of their duties.

Airport Commandant of the Nigeria Air Force, Directors of the DSS and SSS and Manager of the Airport all pledged to accord Customs the necessary support in their duties.