By Providence Ayanfeoluwa & Grace Okpaneka

To boost country’s trade and investment landscape, the Nigeria Customs Service , NCS in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, launched the Bashir Adeniyi Centre for International Trade and Investment.

In a statement, signed by National Public Relations Officer, NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada, the centre named after the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, inaugurated in Lagos, comes at an opportune time as Nigeria is repositioning itself in the global trade environment.

According to Adeniyi, “As we continue to advance these initiatives, I envision that this Centre will evolve into a comprehensive national think tank focused on international trade and investment.”

“We have a strong commitment to our mandate of trade facilitation, among other things, so we believe that the centre will be a centre of excellence in building capacity and, most importantly, creating awareness about the necessity of conducting international trade. Trade brings prosperity, and we hope that this centre will foster prosperity through trade.”

Also, Director General of NIIA, Professor Eghosa Osaghae, said that the centre will serve as a finishing school for senior customs officers.

He said: “We are very pleased as an institute to announce to the world that we now have the Bashir Adeniyi Centre for International Trade and Investment. This centre will serve as a finishing school for senior officers in customs, offering senior executive courses that will be certificated. Because this is the NIIA, we will do this as a global affair, properly immersing the NCS in the framework of the World Customs Organisation”.