At the Presidential Villa in Abuja, acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, was decorated on Monday by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

In a statement released in Abuja by Olusola Abiola, the Director of Information for the Office of the Vice President, it was revealed that Femi Gbajabiamila, the President's Chief of Staff, had attended the ceremony at the Presidential Villa.

On June 19, Mr. Adeniyi was appointed acting CG of NCS by President Bola Tinubu.

The vice president said Mr. Adeniyi's approval by President Bola Tinubu was a good morale booster for men of the service.

“Congratulations on bringing professionalism back to the Nigerian Customs Service.

” Now, every Customs officer can aspire to occupy the pinnacle of his or her profession.

“I wish you well, on behalf of the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, Congratulations, once again,” Mr Shettima said.

Mr. Adeniyi thanked Mr. Tinubu for recognizing a serving officer as the agency's chief in a statement to State House reporters shortly after the decoration.

He promised Nigerians and the president a more efficient and innovative NCS.

“In the last eight years, the NCS has gone through a period of transition; in some areas, we recorded progress – we made remarkable progress in e-Customs.

“We made a lot of breakthroughs in capacity building, but the NCS can still live to its full potential when we bring in more innovation to drive Customs operations.

“These are the kind of things we are looking at in the years ahead; we are going to be professional in our approach; there are a number of key stakeholders that we are going to be working with.

“It is a very onerous task, but we are going to be working alongside other stakeholders and partners that we have identified.

“We intend to come up with innovations that will carry along all partners and stakeholders,” he said.

The service would use technology and innovation to break new ground in its operations, Mr. Adeniyi noted.