For Regional Economic Transformation, Nigeria Customs, South-South Development Commission Agree
The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi (left), presenting a souvenir to the Managing Director/ CEO South South Development Commission (SSDC) Ms.Usoro Akpabio, when she paid a courtesy visit to the Service
… proposes creation of a joint working group.
Nigeria’s Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, has thrown the weight of the Service behind the fledgling South-South Development Commission, describing it as a potential engine for regional economic transformation.
While hosting the Commission’s Managing Director, Usoro Akpabio, and her team at the Customs House in Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday, 18 September 2025, Adeniyi applauded the Commission’s inauguration and hailed Akpabio’s appointment. He said the 2023 Customs Act had ushered in sweeping reforms that demand broad stakeholder engagement, pledging that Customs would keep its doors open for sustained dialogue and joint action.
Calling for urgency, the CGC proposed the creation of a joint working group to serve as a “sounding board” for collaboration in key areas such as trade facilitation, border management, and economic integration. He also pointed to the Service’s recently launched Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme—focused on education, healthcare, and infrastructure—as evidence of its commitment to inclusive growth and partnership beyond its host communities.
In her response, Akpabio praised Customs’ modernisation strides, calling them “exemplary” and central to the South-South region’s economic blueprint. Barely three weeks after the Commission’s inauguration, she said, it has already been tasked with a sweeping mandate covering the blue economy, agriculture, human capital development, infrastructure, and utilities across the oil-rich region.
She underscored the Service’s pivotal role in the region’s seaports, oil and gas corridors, free trade zones, and border posts, assuring Adeniyi that the Commission would seek a long-term strategic alliance with Customs to drive transparency, regional prosperity, and national development.
