Customs Explores New Areas of Cooperation and Strengthens Partnership with Nigerian Navy
Kathy Kyari
The Nigeria Customs Service has gone further than usual in other strategic joint ventures to strengthen partnership with the Nigerian Navy in order to keep the latter's presence in Nigerian territorial waters and combat smugglers.
On Thursday, November 16, 2023, during a visit to the Naval Dockyard in Lagos, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, said that the Nigerian Navy had the ability and expertise to maintain the NCS fleet of vessels.
In his words "We don't need to establish a vessel maintenance unit; it's capital intensive, but we have an agency of government that has the knowledge, that has the capacity and there's the willingness for them to assist us."
"I have seen and marveled by the capacity that exists here in the Naval Dockyard and we believe that we could tap into that capacity and enter into some agreement with you so that you could manage the maintenance of our fleets." He stressed.
The CGC emphasized that bolstering the NCS's presence in Nigeria's coastal regions will minimize smuggling operations.
"If we block the land borders effectively and do not maintain a very strong presence on our territorial waters, smugglers will take advantage, so we also need to fortify and enhance our presence to checkmate those who may want to try smuggling through our waters." The CGC stated.
Rear Admiral Abolaji Orederu, the MD/CEO of Naval Dockyard Ltd., responded by asserting that the naval dockyard plays a big part in shipbuilding as well as ship upkeep and repairs.
"Naval dockyard is well poised to take advantage of situations like this, and we see the Nigeria Customs Service as a powerful ally of the Nigerian Navy." He said.
In closing, he stated that the capacity exists and that any extra capacity may be utilized to benefit other organizations, the greater nautical community, and the shipping industry overall.
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