In a renewed push to strengthen ethical governance and promote transparency, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has partnered with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to deploy key integrity assessment tools across its operations.
The engagement, which took place on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at the NCS Headquarters in Abuja, featured the official rollout of the Ethics and Compliance Scorecard (EICS) and the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) Effectiveness Index (AEI)—tools designed by the ICPC to evaluate ethical standards across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
Representing the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, the Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Headquarters, Isah Umar, welcomed the initiative, describing it as a critical mechanism for institutional reform and integrity-building.
“This is an important oversight process to evaluate ethics and integrity levels across government agencies,” Umar said. “For us in the Nigeria Customs Service, it aligns with our broader reforms aimed at ensuring professionalism, accountability, and citizen-focused service delivery.”
He noted that the Service had thoroughly prepared for the exercise and invited the ICPC team to conduct a rigorous review of the submitted documentation.
Comptroller Emmanuel Oshoba of the Customs Intelligence Unit and Comptroller Hannel Hadison of the Special Duties Unit also highlighted the strides NCS has made in entrenching transparency, noting that ACTU desk officers have been strategically deployed across commands to promote anti-corruption messaging and monitor compliance.
Leading the ICPC delegation, Umar Sani said the deployment of the EICS and AEI represents a proactive, preventive strategy aimed at ensuring compliance with ethical standards within the public sector.
“The Ethics and Compliance Scorecard and the ACTU Effectiveness Index are vital preventive tools to ensure institutions like the Nigeria Customs Service maintain high standards of transparency, accountability, and service ethics,” he stated.
He explained that the EICS evaluates MDAs using four key components: management structure and culture, financial management system, administrative system, and ACTU functionality.
Sani further noted that ACTUs, established in all federal MDAs, play a critical role in sensitising staff against corruption and ensuring structured reporting of unethical conduct in partnership with the ICPC.
The engagement underscores the Customs Service’s continuing efforts to institutionalise integrity and uphold President Bola Tinubu’s anti-corruption agenda, while reinforcing the importance of preventive frameworks in public sector accountability.