Adeniyi charges Custom Officers to use firearms only for self defense

Acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi has cautioned his men against use of firearms on innocent citizens.

The Acting Comptroller General was speaking to a breed of comptrollers and assistant legal advisers when he made the call at the official declaration of a sensitisation workshop on the practical implementation of the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, in Abuja.

Adeniyi, in his statement, warned officers and men of the service to apply tactical measures in dealing with citizens before using firearms as indiscriminate use of firearms to cause havoc would attract severe punishments.

According to him, the use of firearms could only be applied in extreme circumstances that require self-defence.

“We must not, in any circumstance, use firearms except we have an absolute necessity for using it. The citizens of this country are there for us to protect.”

The CPs’ charge is coming just few days after the appointment of three new Deputy Comptroller Generals, DCGs and three new Assistant Comptroller Generals, ACGs into the management team of the Nigerian Customs Service.

In his congratulatory message to the newly appointed Officers, CP Adeniyi charged them to redouble their efforts to ensure the Service achieves greater heights in its mandates of revenue generation, suppression of smuggling and trade facilitation.”

In a related development, the Senate has urged the Federal Government to use the already appropriated N14.2bn in the 2023 budget for the construction of the Nigerian Customs Academy in Bauchi State.

The Senator representing Bauchi South senatorial district, Umar Shehu Buba, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and 16 other senators sponsored the motion which the house eventually adopted and setted up a Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff.

The committee was charged with a duty to effectively oversee the construction and successful completion of the highly anticipated project.

Meanwhile, reading out his plea, Buba described the proposed Nigerian Customs Service Training School/Academy as an envisioned one-stop shop for the revenue generating agency.

He said, “It consists of administrative block, perimeter fence, senior staff housing, generator house, staff room, classrooms, library, laboratories and workshop/dining hall.

“It also consists of girls’ hostel, boys’ hostel, intermediate staff housing, sport area, chief security office etc, which is estimated to gulp approximately the sum of N14,200,000,000.

“Construction of the aforestated additional Customs Training/Academy to the existing ones will provide the needed professional training towards meeting the demands of institution in the country.

“It will bring out officers/personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service in tune with the current realities of professionalism in all their dealings and international best practices which would rid them of unprofessional and unethical conducts.

“It will be recalled that due to unethical conduct in the discharge of their duties, this revered Senate on the 19th day of July, 2023, considered a motion on reckless abuse of firearms by officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service which led to loss of innocent lives.

“Therefore as contained in item 262 on the details of the Appropriation Act 2023, the earmarked N14.2 billion for construction of Service Academy and Training School should be utilized by the Federal Government in putting the highly needed capacity enhancement institutions on ground for Customs.”

All the senators, who contributed to the motion, supported it with attendant adoption of the three prayers sought.