The Nigeria Customs Service has held an induction workshop for Resource persons and instructors toward 2026 recruitment training programme.
The retreat is part of innovations introduced by the Service to bring all trainers together under one platform rather than having them operate in separate segments.
Speaking at the event, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, represented by the Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Human Resource Development, Frank Onyeka, urged the trainers to work as a team and review the training modules with a view to producing officers the Customs Service and the society would be proud of.
“If you don’t work like a team, you will not get the desired results. Working in silos will not give us what we want, but if you come together as a team, it is a natural answer,” Adeniyi said.
The Customs boss also urged heads of the various training units to take full responsibility for their areas while remaining open to contributions from others, stressing that nobody has a monopoly of knowledge.
He said; “To deliver this process and to get the desired results, all of us must work as one.”
Adeniyi recalled his experience as a trainer in 2008 and 2009, noting that officers trained during that period rose through the ranks with some now serving as Area Controllers, a success he attributed to collaborative efforts of trainers at the time.
Explaining the rationale behind the retreat, Adeniyi said; “the Service had previously trained its trainers in segments, with different resource persons and instructors meeting them at different times.”
“You bring a resource person, talk to them. You bring the drill instructors, talk to them. It was taking time. So, instead of breaking these segments, we brought everybody under one roof for the same purpose, to get the same results and drive towards the same purpose,” Adeniyi said.
He said that the new approach would save time and promote greater coordination ahead of the commencement of the basic training programme.
In her welcome address, the Commandant of the Ikeja Training College, Deputy Comptroller Precious Atah described the retreat as the first of its kind, noting that it was important to set the pace for the training programme.
Atah urged the trainers to approach the exercise with an open mind.
The Coordinator of the retreat, Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs, Greg Itotoh, retired, also urged the trainers to freely discuss without holding back, noting that grey areas would be exposed and solutions easily found.
