Customs streamlines process to facilitate Tinubu’s food security plan

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it will streamline processes that will facilitate President Bola Tinubu’s food security initiative.

Adewale Adeniyi, comptroller-general of Customs (CGC), disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, during an official launch of a book titled, ‘Impactful Public Relations in Customs Management,’ that highlights the CGC’s progressive public relations strategies.

According to him, the aim is to ensure a swift importation of food items, adhering to standards that reduce costs and lower consumer prices.

Adeniyi said Customs will help the government in addressing food insecurity through targeted measures to intensify agricultural production.

“The government is actively providing incentives to farmers to increase food production. There’s an ambitious target to cultivate more than 10 million hectares of land for food production. This initiative aims to boost our food security and leverage our abundant arable land, only 40 percent of which is currently cultivated,” he said.

Adeniyi explained that the Federal Government has taken bold steps to address the immediate challenge of high food prices by removing tariffs and other import duties on key staples such as rice, wheat, maize, and sorghum for six months.

Describing the role of Customs as the gatekeeper of Nigeria’s international trade, the Customs boss said there is a need to streamline processes to secure the nation’s food supply and support agricultural production.

“Nigeria boasts 84 million hectares of arable land, of which only 40 percent is currently cultivated, according to the 2017 Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) report on ‘Boosting Agricultural Productivity in Nigeria.’

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This, he said, presents an enormous opportunity for agricultural expansion in Nigeria.

Adeniyi lauded the Image Merchants Promotion Limited for publishing the book, which he described as a valuable contribution to advancing public relations within the Nigeria Customs Service.

Earlier, Tope Fasua, senior special assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Economy in the Office of the Vice President, who represented Vice President Kashim Shettima spoke on the theme ‘Leveraging Effective Communication for Revenue Generation and Economic Development.’

He lauded the publishers of Economic Confidential magazine and other publications, for their consistency in research and investigative journalism over the decades.

He also commended the Nigeria Customs Service for its role in safeguarding the nation’s borders and boosting the economy.

“We all know how important the contributions of the Nigeria Customs Service are as a regulator and facilitator of international trade—and how it adds value to the country,” he said.

On his part, Yushau Shauib, chief executive officer of Image Merchants Promotion Limited, said the book is a tribute to Adeniyi’s transformative leadership and commitment to transparent and effective public relations within the Customs Service.