By Martha Agas
The Sea and Empowerment Research Centre (SEREC) has called for a sustained professional governance structure in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to forestall institutional regression.
SEREC made the call in its executive brief issued to newsmen by its Head of Research, Dr Eugene Nweke, on Monday in Abuja.
Nweke noted that the NCS had recorded notable progress in digital modernisation, revenue growth, enforcement and stakeholder engagement, but said its sustainability remained vulnerable to leadership changes and policy inconsistency.
He said the transformation of the NCS into a modern trade facilitation institution would be best sustained under a career-driven, professional leadership structure that ensures reforms remain institutionally embedded and not personality-driven.
“Historical deviations from this model, particularly non-specialist interventions have demonstrated the risks of policy disruption and institutional regression.
“To consolidate progress, Nigeria must draw a clear line under such experiments and reinforce a system where leadership emerges from within the service, institutional knowledge is preserved and professional progression drives governance.
“SEREC emphasises that the NCS must operate as a ‘relay institution’ where each administration strengthens inherited reforms, not resets them,” he said.
He acknowledged the efforts of the NCS Comptroller-General(C-G), Bashir Adeniyi and his management team in advancing modernisation and aligning with legacy reform principles.
Nweke emphasised that such achievements must be institutionalised for long-term impact.
He urged the NCS to strive to consolidate the gains recorded under the current leadership and project the service as a model for wider public sector transformation.
According to him, the emerging cadre of customs officers are critical to reform sustainability and should be repositioned as custodians of institutional legacy, drivers of reform continuity and stewards of professionalism and national service.
He said that the NCS Officers must see themselves not merely as implementers of directives, but as custodians of institutional legacy.
This, he said, required a shift from compliance to ownership, from routine execution to stewardship, from short-term targets to long-term legacy thinking, emphasising that without this transformation, reform sustainability would remain uncertain.
According to him, to safeguard gains, SEREC proposes five non-negotiable pillars involving policy continuity over leadership disruption, irreversible digital transformation, institutional memory preservation, stakeholder- centric governance and merit-driven professionalism
These pillars, he said, define the minimum threshold for sustaining reform momentum.
The reform trajectory of the NCS, he said, should be adopted as a model for other government agencies, particularly in policy continuity, digital transformation and institutional accountability.
He said the model demonstrates that reform must outlive leadership cycles, with technology remaining central to transparency and efficiency, institutional memory serving as a foundation for continuity and leadership succession reinforcing rather than resetting progress.
“Public institutions are encouraged to adapt these principles in their reform journeys,” he said.
He urged the provision of legislative backing for key customs reforms, the acceleration of the National Single Window implementation and the establishment of independent reform audit mechanisms.
Nweke also called for the strengthening of institutional memory systems and the deepening of digital transparency and accountability tools.
“SEREC reiterates that the true test of reform is not initiation, but continuity.
“Nigeria cannot afford a return to policy reversals or institutional experimentation. The gains within the NCS must be protected, strengthened, and transmitted across generations,” he said.(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Yakubu Uba
