Vice President Kashim Shettima on Monday decorated the newly appointed acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Olusola Abiola, Director Information, Office of the Vice President, in a statement in Abuja, said the ceremony was witnessed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, at the Presidential Villa.
The vice president described the appointment of Adeniyi by President Bola Tinubu as morale booster for officers in the service.
“Congratulations for bringing professionalism back to the Nigerian Customs Service.
“Now, every Customs officer can aspire to occupy the pinnacle of his or her profession.
“I wish you well, on behalf of the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, Congratulations, once again,” Shettima said.
Speaking with State House correspondents shortly after the decoration Adeniyi expressed gratitude to President Tinubu for appointing a serving officer as the head of the agency.
He assured the President and Nigerians of a more effective and innovation driven NCS.
“In the last eight years, the NCS has gone through a period of transition; in some areas, we recorded progress – we made remarkable progress in e-Customs.
“We made a lot of breakthroughs in capacity building; but the NCS can still live to its full potentials when we bring in more innovation to drive Customs operations.
“These are the kind of things we are looking at in the years ahead; we are going to be professional in our approach; there are a number of key stakeholders that we are going to be working with.
“It is a very onerous task but we are going to be working alongside other stakeholders and partners that we have identified.
“We intend to come up with innovations that will carry along all partners and stakeholders, ” he said.
Adeniyi added that the service would leverage technology and innovation to break new grounds in its operations