The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has expressed readiness to collaborate with the newly established South-South Development Commission in advancing regional economic growth through strategic partnership.
The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, made this known on Thursday, September 18, 2025, when the Commission’s Managing Director, Usoro Akpabio, led her team on a courtesy visit to the Customs headquarters in Maitama, Abuja.
Adeniyi, who congratulated Akpabio on her appointment, noted that the 2023 Customs Act introduced significant reforms whose successful implementation would require broad consultations. He pledged that Customs would sustain dialogue with the Commission to ensure inclusivity and shared progress, adding that both institutions must convene again soon to mobilise wider stakeholder participation.
Reaffirming the Service’s commitment, Adeniyi proposed the establishment of a joint working team to act as a sounding board for partnership in areas such as trade facilitation, border management, and economic integration. He further disclosed that Customs had recently launched its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, which focuses on education, healthcare, and infrastructure development as part of efforts to foster inclusive growth across host communities.
While acknowledging the Commission’s inauguration, Adeniyi assured that Customs management, including officers outside the South-South region, would support the Commission’s mandate in driving development.
In her remarks, Akpabio lauded Customs’ ongoing reforms and modernisation drive, describing them as exemplary. She explained that the Commission, inaugurated just three weeks ago, had been entrusted with a wide-ranging mandate covering the blue economy, agriculture, infrastructure, human capital development, and utilities across the South-South region.
Highlighting Customs’ crucial role in the region’s economic framework due to its presence in seaports, oil and gas operations, free trade zones, and border activities, Akpabio assured that the Commission would pursue a lasting partnership with the Service. She emphasised that the alliance would be built on transparency and mutual commitment to regional and national development.