By Victoria Attah
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has begun a major media engagement in Abuja aimed at helping journalists better understand the agency’s ongoing digital reforms and trade modernisation efforts as it intensifies moves to overhaul Customs operations nationwide.
The four-day workshop, which attracted journalists from different parts of the country, is focused on exposing media practitioners to the Service’s evolving technology-driven systems, automated trade procedures and institutional reforms.
Speaking during the opening session on Thursday, the Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Enforcement, Inspection and Investigation, Timi Bomodi, said the pace of reforms within the Service made it necessary for stakeholders to remain adequately informed.
Representing the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, Bomodi explained that the Customs Service was undergoing significant structural and technological changes aimed at improving efficiency, transparency and trade facilitation.
According to him, the Trade Modernisation Project remains at the centre of the transformation agenda, with Customs deploying digital platforms and integrated systems to simplify operations and reduce delays in cargo processing.
“A lot is happening within the Service, and sometimes it may be difficult for stakeholders to keep pace with the speed of these developments,” he said.
He added, “When change happens, stakeholders must understand not just what is changing, but why it is changing. That is where the media becomes indispensable.”
Bomodi stressed that the success of the reforms would depend largely on public understanding and accurate dissemination of information, noting that the media plays a strategic role in bridging communication between government institutions and citizens.
Earlier, the National Public Relations Officer of the Service, Abdullahi Maiwada, said the workshop was organised to equip journalists with practical knowledge of the Customs modernisation project and the wider reforms taking place within the agency.
He noted that as global trade increasingly relies on technology and automation, the Service considered it important to carry the media along in order to promote informed and balanced reportage.
Also speaking, Ahmad Ogunsola, encouraged participants to engage resource persons during the training sessions to gain a clearer understanding of the project and its implications for trade facilitation in Nigeria.
Senior Customs officials present at the opening ceremony included the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of ICT/Modernisation, Oluyomi Adebakin, and the Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Headquarters, Muhammad Shu’aibu.
Participants were later taken through technical presentations on integrated non-intrusive inspection systems, automation procedures and other digital reforms shaping the future of Customs administration in Nigeria.
The workshop, which commenced on Wednesday, will end on Saturday in Abuja.
