Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College Inaugurates Students of Senior Course 13
Author: Abdulkareem Zurmi.
The Nigeria Customs Service has again taken a significant step in its drive for professional development and leadership grooming with the inauguration of Senior Course 13 students at the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada.
The inauguration ceremony, held on 5 August 2025 at the Ahmad Makarfi Hall, formally marked the commencement of a six-month intensive training programme designed to enhance the strategic capacity of mid-level officers. The course brings together selected officers from various commands across the country, uniting them under a single mission: to build the next generation of leaders for a more modern and effective Customs Service.
In her welcome address, the Commandant of the College, Assistant Comptroller-General Oluyomi Adebakin, emphasised the programme’s significance in shaping the Service’s future. She described the training as an academic exercise and a rigorous professional development journey that will challenge, empower, and reposition participants for greater roles in customs operations, enforcement, and administration.
“These programmes are structured to enhance the capacity of middle-level management officers within the Service. Consider yourselves privileged to be among those nominated to contribute to the much-needed transformation within the Service. She stated.
“This is to realise the policy thrust of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.” She emphasised.
Delivering the keynote address, the Special Guest of Honour, Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs, Suleiman Chiroma, who oversees the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), urged the officers to approach the training with utmost dedication and focus. He stressed that the six-month programme is tailored to equip officers with the intellectual tools, ethical standards, and leadership skills necessary for higher responsibilities in the Service.
He remarked:
“Wherever you are posted, your wealth of experience will come to bear in changing the circumstances you will find yourselves in. You are the ones who will turn strategy into action and impact.
“You must therefore rise above routine thinking and embrace the mindset of innovation, accountability, and integrity.”
Both the Commandant and the Special Guest of Honour commended the Directing Staff for their commitment to excellence. They were charged with guiding the officers into becoming efficient customs administrators and ambassadors of integrity and discipline.
