Time to Unbundle Nigeria Customs Service By Chigozie Chikere
The new measures to ensure transparency in Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) took a new turn last week as the Comptroller-General, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rt d) ordered officers of the agency to declare their assets. This drive toward effective public service delivery in NCS is a welcome development as it is pivotal and underscores the seriousness of President Muhammadu Buhari’s on-going fight against corruption in Nigeria.Pivotal in the sense that it is nearing one decade since the Act establishing the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) came into force – a legislation that empowers CRFFN to regulate standards of training and certification for freight forwarding practice but cedes licensing to NCS. Today, the freight forwarding reform machinery still appears to be in need of a lot more than a new spray of paint and, this development, experts have linked to unresolved jurisdictional issues between CRFFN and NCS. Since inception in 1958, NCS ha