By George Ozalla
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, has ordered the immediate implementation of new anti-corruption measures across all zones, commands and units of the Service following the signing of three key integrity documents and the activation of the Internal Corruption Risk Analysis and Mapping (ICRAM) Steering Committee.
Adeniyi gave the directive on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, during a ceremony at his office at the NCS Headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, where he signed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Conducting Internal Corruption Risk Analysis and Mapping, the ICRAM Handbook and the Integrity Action Plan (IAP).
The signing and activation of the steering committee formalised the Service’s framework for identifying, assessing and mapping corruption risks across its operational and administrative processes. The initiative is designed to enable officers to identify areas vulnerable to corruption, evaluate existing controls and implement targeted measures to strengthen integrity, transparency and accountability in Customs operations.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Comptroller-General said the documents were developed through a painstaking process involving an internal team, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and partner Customs administrations, including His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
He explained that the collaboration was aimed at establishing practical procedures that would make integrity a central consideration in the discharge of the Service’s statutory responsibilities.
“These two documents are products of a painstaking process which we have undertaken with efforts from an internal team working together with our partners from the WCO and a number of other Customs administrations that have walked this path with us to ensure that we have a Service where integrity leads,” Adeniyi said.
The Customs chief stressed that the framework was not intended to remain a set of policy documents but would serve as an operational guide for officers working at seaports, land borders, airports and other units of the Service.
According to him, the procedures would equip personnel with the necessary guidance and capacity to identify corruption risks in their respective areas of responsibility and apply appropriate measures to address them.
“We want to believe that we have laid a practical step, very easy to follow, for all our operatives at the ports, the borders, and the airports, to be able to conduct corruption risk mapping in their places, giving them the opportunity and capacity to implement the action plan to instil integrity in our system,” he added.
Earlier, the Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of the Strategic Research and Policy Department, ACG Nafi’u Isyaku, led senior officers to present the documents to the Comptroller-General and sought approval for their full implementation across the Service.
The development followed a pilot exercise through which the ICRAM methodology was tested in seven key commands and units of the NCS. The exercise covered 66 processes across regulatory, core Customs and support functions, providing the basis for identifying operational vulnerabilities and developing measures to address them.
The pilot covered the Apapa Area Command under the sea modality; the Murtala Muhammed Cargo (MMAC) Command and Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Command under the air modality; and the Seme Area Command under the land modality.
Other participating units were the Customs Police Unit, Zone A; the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) Ruling Centre; and the Procurement Unit. Their inclusion extended the assessment beyond frontline Customs operations to specialised, regulatory and administrative functions where weaknesses in procedures or oversight could expose the Service to integrity risks.
The pilot exercise produced a comprehensive Integrity Action Plan containing 101 action items and 295 sub-action items. The measures are intended to guide the Service in addressing identified risks through improvements in procedures, supervision, accountability and internal controls.
Among the key areas identified for attention are enhanced automation of Customs processes, stronger supervisory oversight, improved accountability mechanisms, the establishment of robust audit trails and traceability systems, and clearer separation of duties among officers.
The plan also provides for regular staff rotation, targeted training and improved controls governing interactions between Customs officers and stakeholders. These measures are intended to reduce opportunities for improper conduct, strengthen monitoring and make official transactions more transparent and traceable.
Automation and reliable audit trails are particularly relevant to monitoring the handling of declarations, assessments, approvals and other Customs processes, while segregation of duties can help prevent excessive concentration of authority in the hands of individual officers. Regular staff rotation and targeted training are also expected to support compliance with established procedures and improve personnel understanding of integrity requirements.
With the signing of the three documents and the activation of the ICRAM Steering Committee, the NCS has moved to the implementation stage of the framework, with all zones, commands and units directed to apply the prescribed procedures.
The success of the initiative will depend on the consistent application of the Integrity Action Plan, effective supervision and the ability of the Service to monitor compliance, address identified weaknesses and hold personnel accountable for breaches of established standards.
