LATELY, fresh winds of positive change seem to be blowing through the rank and file of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS.  A new orientation seems to be taking place in the entire operations of the Service.

Instructively, the NCS is a major revenue earner for the Federal Government, as such  a lot had been written on its operations in the past. Equally, there had been several attempts in the past to reform its operations but with little success.

However, the emergence of Alhaji  Dikko Abdullahi as the Comptroller General of the Customs seems to have changed all that.

Historic and unprecedented scores of transformation have flowed with his administration. He is undoubtedly a man on a mission to reposition the Service and take it to greater heights. He is championing strategic reforms in the Service through the establishment of various service reforms, which without doubt are impacting immeasurably on every aspect  of the operations of the NCS.

The dramatic turn of events in the service has led to developmental initiatives which have impacted positively on the service delivery capacity of the Service, especially in the core areas of Customs operations viz- revenue generation, anti-smuggling and personnel development.

On assumption of office, the Comptroller General announced a six-point agenda which was targeted at a total transformation of the Service to reposition it so as to enable it to compete favourably with its counterparts in emerging economies the world over. The effects of these reforms have been felt in the areas of capacity building, staff welfare, morale boosting and public relations.

The cumulative  effects of the implemen-tation of these transformational policies, by the current Customs management team is a positive paradigm shift, especially in the area of attitudinal disposition of the men and officers of NCS, service motivation and heightened transparency.

From the inception of the administration to the present, the Service has embarked on the training and retraining of about 3500 senior personnel and 2700 junior officers both locally and internationally. This was done in order to enable these officers to acquire modem skills and knowledge in the areas of counter -smuggling, fraud detection, accounts and audits, enforcement and general administration.

The present management also placed the welfare of the officers and men of the Service as one of the Service’s topmost priorities because they are of strategic importance to the success of the generality of the reforms. And as such present remuneration statistics show that officers are well paid, promotions in the Service are as at when due. But most of all, they are based’ on merit and performances.

All these have resulted in change of attitude, renewed discipline, and value change that have characterised the Service in the present dispensation.

The various counter-smuggling initiatives of the Alhaji Dikko administration have yielded results.  Ths task force comprises the ICPC, Customs, Police and EFCC the essence of the collaborative effort is to ensure that no consignment is exited from the ports without complying fully with the Federal Government importation laws.

The current management under the leadership of Alhaji Dikko has invested heavily in the purchase of operational vehicles and other operational equipment to check the activities of smugglers and economic saboteurs. These initiatives have helped in the seizures of many consignments of prohibited goods and the recovery of revenue worth billions of naira into the coffers of the Federal Government.

Another interesting area is the implementation of e-Customs. Most of the transactions in the nation’s ports are now done electronically. However, credit must be given to the past administrations of the Customs for conceiving the e-Customs project. It is on record nonetheless, that the present administration brought the project to fruition.

As a show of confidence in the newly invigorated Nigerian Customs Service, the Federal Government mandated it to turn in N650 billion to the 2010 national budget, from its N270 billion in 2009. This represents about 140 per cent. Again, the Federal Government has mandated the Customs Service to turn in N970 billion to the 2011 budget. This represents about 150 per  cent.

Mr. CHUKA DIMUDE,  a  Maritime Operator, wrote from Lagos.