The Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) has asked to be integrated into the B’Odogwu platform of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
This call was made by the head of NAQS, Mr Vincent Isegbe, during a meeting with the Comptroller-General of Customs, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Mr Isegbe, who used the visit to congratulate Mr Adeniyi on the extension of his tenure as Chairperson of the World Customs Organisation Council, which he described as recognition of his dedication and leadership, praised what he called an excellent working relationship with Customs.
He outlined areas for closer partnership, including integrating NAQS into Customs’ B’Odogwu platform, joint enforcement operations, and coordinated efforts to detect fake certification and fraudulent documentation.
In his remarks, Mr Adeniyi commended his guest for the partnership, promising that NAQS will provide technical support for the new Customs laboratory.
According to him, this is one of the avenues to deepen collaboration between the two agencies on intelligence sharing, trade facilitation and national security.
He informed Mr Isegbe that his organisation was moving to harmonise inspection procedures across the country’s ports and border stations, a step he described as critical to promoting consistency, transparency and efficiency in cargo clearance nationwide.
He also stated that customs training facilities would be opened up to NAQS officers as part of a broader capacity-building push.
“We must expose our officers to the broader concept of national security. Border management goes beyond revenue collection,” Mr Adeniyi said, stressing that Customs sees itself as the anchor institution coordinating Nigeria’s multi-agency border protection efforts.