The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, has signed key anti-corruption documents and directed their immediate implementation across all zones, commands and units of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The documents, comprising the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Conducting Internal Corruption Risk Analysis and Mapping (ICRAM), the ICRAM Handbook and the Integrity Action Plan (IAP), were signed on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at the NCS Headquarters in Maitama, Abuja.
Adeniyi also formally activated the ICRAM Steering Committee as part of efforts to institutionalise a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and addressing corruption risks across the Service’s operational and administrative processes.
The Comptroller-General said the documents were developed through a collaborative process involving an internal NCS team, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and partner administrations, including His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
He said the initiative was designed to ensure that integrity remains at the centre of the Service’s operations.
“These two documents are products of a painstaking process which we have undertaken with efforts from an internal team working together with our partners from the WCO and a number of other Customs administrations that have walked this path with us to ensure that we have a Service where integrity leads,” Adeniyi said.
According to him, the documents provide practical tools for Customs officers operating at ports, borders and airports to identify corruption risks within their areas of responsibility and implement appropriate measures to mitigate them.
“We want to believe that we have laid a practical step, very easy to follow, for all our operatives at the ports, the borders, and the airports, to be able to conduct corruption risk mapping in their places, giving them the opportunity and capacity to implement the action plan to instil integrity in our system,” he added.
Earlier, the Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of the Strategic Research and Policy Department, ACG Nafi’u Isyaku, led senior officers to present the documents and sought approval for their full implementation across the Service.
The ICRAM methodology had earlier been piloted in seven key Commands and Units, covering 66 processes across regulatory, core Customs and support functions.
The pilot locations included Apapa Area Command under the sea modality; Murtala Muhammed Cargo (MMAC) and Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Commands under the air modality; and Seme Area Command under the land modality.
Other participating units were the Customs Police Unit, Zone A; PAAR Ruling Centre; and the Procurement Unit.
The pilot exercise resulted in the development of a comprehensive Integrity Action Plan containing 101 action items and 295 sub-action items.
The identified priority areas include increased automation, stronger supervision and accountability, improved audit trails and traceability, clear segregation of duties, regular staff rotation, targeted capacity building, and enhanced controls in interactions between officers and stakeholders.
The NCS said the rollout of the framework is expected to strengthen institutional integrity and provide a structured mechanism for preventing and managing corruption risks across its operations.
