Wale Adeniyi: Customs Police Must Not Abuse En-forcement Powers - THISDAYLIVE
Comptroller-General of Customs, Mr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, yesterday said the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) must first enforce discipline, integrity, and ac-countability within its ranks before demanding compli-ance from traders and the public.
Adeniyi said the exercise of police powers by customs officers must be guided by strict adherence to the law, stressing that searches, arrests, and detention must have legitimate legal grounds and withstand both pub-lic and judicial scrutiny.
Adeniyi spoke at the inaugural Customs Police Summit 2026 in Abuja.
He stated that the credibility of the service’s enforce-ment operations depended substantially on its ability to regulate the conduct of its personnel and prevent the abuse of institutional authority.
Adeniyi, who is also Chairman of World Customs Or-ganisation (WCO) Council, described the Customs Po-lice Unit (CPU) as a critical internal accountability mechanism responsible for ensuring that officers en-trusted with enforcement powers did not operate above the law.
Adeniyi said the service could not effectively facilitate legitimate trade and suppress illicit commerce without a disciplined and trusted internal police structure ca-pable of enforcing professional standards.
He declared that the fundamental principle underpin-ning the establishment of the CPU remained that no of-ficer was above the law.
The unit, inaugurated in July 2019, was established to investigate erring personnel, prevent crime, and strengthen compliance within the service.
The CGC said the increasing sophistication of transna-tional criminal activities required customs to strength-en its internal enforcement capacity while ensuring that legitimate businesses were not subjected to un-necessary disruptions.
He identified three fundamental lessons from the evo-lution of customs enforcement: integrity must begin within the institution, authority must be exercised with restraint, and enforcement must be supported by institutional collaboration.
According to him, although the Nigeria Customs Ser-vice Act 2023 provides the service with police powers, the legislation does not confer unlimited authority on officers.
He said every enforcement action must be legally de-fensible, adding that the exercise of statutory powers without appropriate safeguards could undermine pub-lic confidence in the institution.
Adeniyi also cautioned against treating enforcement and trade facilitation as competing responsibilities, stating that both could be strengthened through coor-dinated interventions.
He cited the One-Stop Shop initiative as an example of how collaboration could improve operational efficien-cy while maintaining effective enforcement controls.
The customs chief said the service must increasingly re-ly on intelligence, data, and technology rather than in-discriminate enforcement to identify criminal networks and intercept illicit consignments.
He pointed to the World Customs Organisation’s SAFE Framework, Authorised Economic Operator pro-gramme, advance rulings, Time Release Study and Re-vised Kyoto Convention as instruments that could im-prove compliance, accelerate legitimate trade, and en-able officers to concentrate on high-risk transactions.
He explained that those mechanisms would also re-duce opportunities for corruption and arbitrary exer-cise of discretion by customs personnel.
Adeniyi identified the service’s B’Odogwu digital plat-form, which integrates declarations, valuation, risk management and Authorised Economic Operator pro-cesses, as an important instrument for strengthening transparency and accountability.
He said the platform provided reliable audit trails that could help investigators establish responsibility and track transactions.
The customs boss also highlighted the INTERPOL Data Centre at Customs Headquarters, which provides ac-cess to international criminal databases, as an im-portant resource for strengthening intelligence-led in-vestigations.
He said the NCS Act 2023 equally provided a legal foundation for intelligence-driven operations, joint border activities and mutual administrative assistance.
However, he maintained that the CPU remained central to ensuring that intelligence gathered through the plat-forms translated into lawful enforcement and success-ful prosecutions. He described the unit as the guardian of the service’s institutional integrity, particularly in ensuring that officers exercised their discretion re-sponsibly and remained accountable for their actions.
Outlining the way forward, Adeniyi identified consoli-dation, collaboration and innovation as the three pil-lars upon which the future effectiveness of the Cus-toms Police Unit must rest.
He said consolidation would require the institutionali-sation of professional standards through clear proce-dures for arrest, detention and investigation, properly prepared court-ready case files and continuous profes-sional development.
On collaboration, he called for stronger operational re-lationships with the Nigeria Police, the armed forces, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Na-tional Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Department of State Services (DSS), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Of-fences Commission (ICPC), Nigeria Agricultural Quaran-tine Service, and neighbouring countries.
He stressed that no single institution could effectively combat illicit trade and cross-border criminality with-out sustained intelligence-sharing and coordinated op-erations.
On innovation, Adeniyi urged the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), advanced scanners, geospatial tools and electronic cargo tracking to improve investigations and identify emerging threats.
However, he cautioned that technology must remain subordinate to the law, insisting that while algorithms could identify suspicious activities, enforcement deci-sions must be taken by officers operating within estab-lished legal frameworks.
He said appropriate safeguards, including audit trails, data protection, and human oversight, must accompa-ny the deployment of emerging technologies.
Adeniyi stressed that institutional consolidation with-out innovation would lead to stagnation, while innova-tion without proper institutional structures could cre-ate operational disorder.
He challenged participants at the summit to produce a Customs Police doctrine anchored on the NCS Act 2023 and the Revised Arusha Declaration, alongside practical protocols for joint operations, evidence management and information exchange.
Other expected outcomes included guidelines for the responsible application of data and artificial intelli-gence in investigations, as well as recommendations on the training, welfare and professional recognition of CPU personnel.
In his preliminary remarks before delivering the key-note address, Adeniyi expressed appreciation to partic-ipants and acknowledged the officers and stakeholders whose contributions had made the inaugural gathering possible.
He also conveyed confidence in the personnel of the unit, underscoring the importance of the summit in providing an opportunity for the service and its en-forcement partners to examine the unit’s identity, re-sponsibilities, and future direction.
Addressing the Customs Police personnel directly, the comptroller-general urged them to preserve estab-lished standards, correct institutional weaknesses, and build a more professional enforcement structure.
He said the red beret worn by the unit’s personnel rep-resented the trust of Nigerians and the reputation of the customs service, urging them to wear it with disci-pline, restraint and pride.
He also commended President Bola Tinubu for his sup-port for the modernisation of the NCS.
He equally commended members of the armed forces who graced the occasion.
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