The Western Marine Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has sought collaboration from the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Department of State Services (DSS) to protect the maritime domain.
The Controller of the command, Comptroller Patrick Ntadi, made this disclosure when his team visited the office of the Immigration officer in charge of the Lagos Seaport/Marine Command in Lagos on Wednesday.
Ntadi explained that the purpose of his visit was to create synergy on how to share intelligence to enable them achieve success in their core mandate of promoting legitimate trade and combating smuggling.
The Comptroller acknowledged that the relationship between Customs and Immigration Services goes beyond government operations.
Ntadi reiterated the Comptroller-General, Bashir Adeniyi’s core mandate of collaboration, consolidation, and innovation.
“Intelligence sharing will assist both agencies to achieve more success because if an officer is on land, he can easily shout and run, while it will be difficult for an officer to call for help at sea in the middle of the night.
“Such an officer can be relieved if there is synergy with other sister agencies such as Immigration, who will assist him in that situation.
“I purposely called for proper collaboration to enable Customs achieve more in combating smuggling activities at sea,” he said.
Ntadi said that training would go a long way in changing the attitude of junior officers toward adopting a collaborative strategy during operations.
The Comptroller, NIS, Lagos Seaport/Marine Command, Clementina Ogbudu, acknowledged the significant roles played by NCS in ensuring illicit drugs and unwanted substances do not enter the country.
Ogbudu said that there was no checkpoint across the country where Customs and Immigration officers would not be present to work together.
She acknowledged that the Comptroller-General of Customs had said during the last annual Customs conference that the Service and Immigration were sister agencies.
Ogbudu called for the need to collaborate and form a formidable team that would curb criminalities being perpetuated on the waters.
“For us to keep the territorial water safe, we need to form a team to tackle the enormous atrocities committed on the waters.
“It behoves us to form an intelligence team because we are working for the same purposes. We need to collaborate in securing a better and safer trade to flourish.
“Smuggling activities come through the air, water, and land; that is why it is important for us to collaborate for trade to thrive,” Ogbudu said.
She mentioned the willingness of Customs in giving the necessary cooperation needed for Comptroller Ntadi to achieve more success, adding that collaboration was important to enhance a healthier and safer maritime environment.
In his vote of thanks, the Assistant Controller of Immigration, Shamsudeen Mustapha, appreciated Customs for strengthening collaboration between them.
Mustapha, also the Head of Human Resources Management of Lagos Seaport and Marine, said that the collaboration would have a positive impact on their operations as they looked forward to being sensitised by the Comptroller of Customs.
