ABUJA: Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) may only be known to many Nigerians for its anti-smuggling and revenue collection duties. Not many may know that the agency also engages in active humanitarian and corporate social responsibility activities.
It was in efforts to demonstrate its spirit of solidarity that the Comptroller-General of the Service, Abdullahi Dikko, mobilised officers and men to show love and support for Nigerians displaced by insurgency in the North East by donating various relief items to them.
In order to emphasise the spirit behind the giving, Dikko directed that the items would not be bought with money from government coffers but that all officers and men across all commands in the country, make willful donations towards the noble course.
While presenting the trailer load of items to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Camp in Yola, Adamawa state on behalf of men of the Service at the weekend, Dikko explained to the people that the items were voluntarily donated by officers and men across all commands of the Service including wives of officers.
The items include several Ghana must go bags of clothes and shoes for men, women and children, toiletries and sanitary towels for women, underwear for men and women, detergent, food items and cooking utensils. Others are cutleries, bedsheets, beverages, mats, exercise books, towels, slippers to mention a few.
Speaking at the camp, the CGC who was represented by deputy comptroller general, Musa Tahir, said: “We feel your pains as Customs officers, and what we brought to you today is not bought with money taken from government coffers. These are voluntary donations by all officers and men of the Service and their wives.
“We are not happy that you are here, we pray that very soon this crisis will end and you will go back to your homes. We are not just stopping here, we have other things in Abuja that we are taking to other IDPs in Yobe and Borno states. I pray that you all go back to your homes very soon and live your normal lives,” Tahir said.
Receiving the items on behalf of the government and people of Adamawa state, the head of service, Musa Kaibo, while thanking the NCS for the gesture, noted that such donations have helped to reduce demand on the state government for running the camps.
He emphasised that the items are not seized items but made up of used and unused items voluntarily donated by officers of the agency.
