The Nigeria Customs Service on Thursday, 20 November 2025, opened the 2025 Comptroller-General of Customs’ Conference in Abuja with a strong call for senior officers to confront internal weaknesses affecting the Service’s operational efficiency.
Held at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, the conference provided a platform for reflection, review, and strategic planning aimed at strengthening institutional performance. This year’s theme was “Building Future Partnerships: Lessons from the Customs-PACT Conference.”
Declaring the event open, Comptroller-General of Customs Adewale Adeniyi urged officers to apply the same level of discipline, coordination, and focus that guided the successful hosting of the Customs Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade (C-PACT) Summit.
He noted that just a day earlier, the Service had concluded a landmark continental engagement that brought together customs chiefs, private sector partners, and representatives from across Africa.
“You can’t sustain external credibility without internal integrity,” Adeniyi cautioned. “Turn the mirror inward and force honest discussions about what is working, what is failing, and what must change.”
He explained that the conference theme was designed to help the Service distil key principles behind the C-PACT Summit’s success—coordination, unified messaging, and disciplined execution—and integrate them into its routine operational culture.
Adeniyi recalled that preparations for the summit included 16 consecutive weeks of coordination meetings, during which officers aligned communication with AfCFTA goals, resolved issues swiftly, and maintained cohesion because “failure was not an option with the world watching.”
The two-day programme will feature panel sessions, rigorous presentations, and open dialogues in which the value of ideas will take precedence over rank, he added.
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