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As part of efforts to enhance inter-agency collaboration at operational level, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have flagged off a 3-day collaborative programme which commenced with a joint parade at the Western Marine Customs Command headquarters in Lagos.
The event, which was strategic for operational officers from both services, marked a significant step towards strengthening operational synergy, particularly in maritime and border security.
Addressing the parade, the Customs Area Controller of the Western Marine Command, Comptroller Patrick Ntadi, described the two agencies as “twins in service,” tracing their institutional history and overlapping operational mandates.
His words: “The Nigerian Immigration Service and Nigerian Customs Service are twins in the service. That’s why the Controller of Immigration was able to send her officers down here — because she knows we are twins.”
Recalling the era when both agencies operated under the former Customs, Immigration and Prisons Services Board, Ntadi emphasized that despite structural changes, the core relationship between the services remains intact.
Ntadi, however, did not shy away from addressing longstanding inter-agency tensions, noting that rivalry often exists not at the top echelon, but at the junior levels.
“There is nothing like superiority. Everybody has their own job. When the job suffers, the country suffers. And when the country suffers, it tells on all of us,” he stated, calling on officers to prioritize national interest over ego or turf wars.
He stressed that both agencies face similar challenges particularly in marine operations where both Customs and Immigration officers encounter the same threats, including smugglers, traffickers, and cross-border criminals.
“If you meet a smuggler on the road or in the sea at night, he won’t bother to identify whether you are Immigration or Customs – you are the enemy to him. So why be enemies to yourselves?”
The Western Marine Customs boss noted that the parade and upcoming joint training exercises form part of a broader inter-agency initiative championed by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, whose administration is prioritizing collaboration and operational harmony across border enforcement agencies.
The customs boss praised the leadership of the Nigeria Immigration Service for its openness and warmth, recounting mutual visits between both Commands and urging junior officers to emulate such goodwill and cooperation.
The joint training program, which began on Wednesday, featured a strategic lecture from an official of the Code of Conduct Bureau and will culminate in a joint boat patrol and familiarization exercise on Friday, aimed at deepening practical cooperation in marine environments.
Also speaking at the event, the Controller of Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) Lagos Seaports/ Marine Command, Clementina Ogbudu, stressed that both agencies are going to work as a team as the exercise provides a platform to address the operational problems.
“We are from two different agencies, but we are working for one country. Your Controller, I know how passionate he is about his officers. I’m equally passionate about my own officers as well.
“So, we have decided to come together as a team to form a team that no other person, not the smugglers, not the people that trade our young children for prostitution can penetrate. We are the ones facing the seas and we have to collaborate of a security threat to our country? That is why we are here as a team. And I’m sure by the special grace of God we are going to come together. We are going to work as a team and we are going to defeat them,” she remarked.
