The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, has reaffirmed the Nigeria Customs Service’s commitment to strengthening integrity, ethical conduct and professionalism, pledging closer collaboration with the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to promote accountability and transparency across the service.

Adeniyi made the commitment when he received a delegation from the Code of Conduct Tribunal, led by its Chairman, MainasaraKogo, at the Nigeria Customs Service Headquarters in Abuja. The two organisations discussed institutional cooperation and measures to strengthen compliance with the Code of Conduct for public officers.

The CGC said the service’s integrity drive aligns with global best practices prescribed by the World Customs Organisation (WCO), stressing that, “Keeping an ethical Customs and ensuring that officers operate under a strict code of conduct is fully supported by the World Customs Organisation through its integrity programme. The improper conduct of one officer can erode the credibility of the entire NCS.”

He disclosed that the NCS had taken deliberate steps to regulate the conduct of its personnel, particularly on social media, through a comprehensive policy that guides officers’ behaviour both in and out of uniform.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Mainasara Kogo, said the tribunal had concluded the development of an online asset declaration platform that would enable public officers to declare their assets electronically without visiting any of its offices.

Kogo disclosed that the tribunal had also introduced the Code of Conduct for Public Officers (CCPO) online learning platform to improve ethics education across the public service, while deploying Artificial Intelligence to strengthen asset verification.

He said: “Failure to declare assets and false declaration are offences. The easiest way for every public officer to remain compliant is to declare assets truthfully because undeclared assets may ultimately become liable to forfeiture in accordance with the law.”