The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr. Adewale Adeniyi, has activated a new anti-corruption framework for the Service and ordered the immediate rollout of its Internal Corruption Risk Analysis and Mapping (ICRAM) methodology across all zones, commands and units nationwide.
Adeniyi gave the directive on Tuesday during the unveiling of the new framework at the Service’s headquarters Abuja, during which he signed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Conducting ICRAM, the ICRAM Handbook and the Integrity Action Plan.
The Comptroller-General also activated the ICRAM Steering Committee as part of the NCS’ regulatory steps towards institutionalising a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and addressing corruption risks across the Service’s operational and administrative processes.
According to him, the documents were the culmination of a painstaking process initiated by the management, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and other partner Customs administrations, including His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
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He explained: “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 that the documents were designed as practical tools to empower officers at ports, borders and airports to identify corruption risks within their areas of operation and implement targeted measures to address them.
He expatiated: “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.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of the Strategic Research and Policy Department, ACG Nafi’u Isyaku, led senior officers in presenting the documents and sought approval for their full implementation across the Service.
Before the unveiling of the documents on Tuesday, the ICRAM methodology had earlier been piloted across seven key commands and units, covering 66 processes spanning regulatory, core Customs and support functions.
For instance, under the Sea Modality framework, the pilot was conducted at the Apapa Area Command, while the Murtala Muhammed Cargo (MMAC) and Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Commands participated under the air modality.
The Seme Area Command was covered under the land modality, while the specialised units involved were the Customs Police Unit Zone A, PAAR Ruling Centre and the Procurement Unit, and the pilot exercise produced a comprehensive Integrity Action Plan comprising 101 Action Items and 295 Sub-Action Items.
Specifically, the priority areas identified include enhanced automation, stronger supervision and accountability, robust audit trails and traceability, clear segregation of duties, regular staff rotation, targeted training and improved controls in interactions between Customs officers and stakeholders.
Analysts believe that with the activation of the ICRAM Steering Committee and the immediate rollout directive, the NCS is leveraging the framework as a service-wide mechanism for strengthening integrity, accountability and transparency across its operations.
Similarly, they anticipate that the regulatory initiative will provide the NCS’ officers with a structured approach to detecting corruption vulnerabilities and implementing preventive measures before such risks undermine the Service’s operational efficiency and public trust.
