SEREC Calls for Legislative Backing to Protect Adeniyi’s Customs Service Reforms

A maritime and trade policy think tank has called on the federal government to provide legislative backing for ongoing reforms within the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), warning that without institutional protection, the gains recorded under the current leadership could be reversed by future administrations.

The Sea Empowerment and Research Center (SEREC), in an executive policy brief issued recently, invoked the words of the late Abdullahi Dikko Inde, who in 2014 articulated a doctrine of legacy and continuity.

Dr Eugene Nweke, Head of Research at SEREC, described that vision as both relevant and urgent more than a decade later, noting that Dikko had expressed an aspiration to leave behind legacies our predecessors can gallantly build on.

SEREC acknowledged that the NCS has recorded notable gains in digital modernisation, revenue growth, enforcement, and stakeholder engagement under Comptroller-General Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, but cautioned that reform sustainability remains vulnerable to leadership changes and policy inconsistency.

“Nigeria cannot afford a return to policy reversals or institutional experimentation. The gains within the Nigeria Customs Service must be protected, strengthened, and transmitted across generations.

“Reforms must remain institutionally embedded and not personality-driven,” the brief stated.

The centre specifically recognised Adeniyi and his management team for advancing modernisation and aligning with legacy reform principles, but stressed that those efforts must now be institutionalised for long-term impact.

Without legislative anchoring, SEREC warned, the service risks slipping back into what it described as policy reversals and institutional experimentation.

Central to SEREC’s position is the concept of the NCS operating as a relay institution one where each administration strengthens inherited reforms rather than resetting them.

“The true test of reform is not initiation, but continuity,” the brief declared, adding that gains recorded within the service must be protected, strengthened, and transmitted across generations.

The think tank also underscored the importance of career-driven, professional leadership in customs administration, warning that past deviations from this model have led to disruptions and setbacks.

It accordingly advocated for the sustained strengthening of civilian, professional customs governance structures.

SEREC identified the emerging cadre of customs officers as critical to reform sustainability, calling for their repositioning as custodians of institutional legacy, drivers of reform continuity, and stewards of professionalism and national service.

In a broader national call to action, the centre urged that the NCS reform trajectory be adopted as a model for other government agencies, particularly in the areas of policy continuity, digital transformation, and institutional accountability.