Nigeria Cedes Vice Chairmanship Of World Customs Organization To Mali

The Director general of Mali Customs, Amadou Konate has assumed office as the Vice Chairman of the World Customs Organization – West and Central Africa (WCO-WCA), effectively taking over from the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

The hand over signifies the continuation of regional leadership in customs administration and cooperation, representing a seamless change in leadership and reflects the spirit of cooperation that characterizes the WCO-WCA region.

Adeniyi added that the WCO in the region holds regular meetings and activities where members share experiences, exchange ideas, discuss their challenges, and propose solutions.

He further explained that they examine best practices available in different customs administrations and make efforts to learn from them.

“We also engage in capacity building among ourselves to train our officers and provide them with the best opportunities and environments to learn.

“We are not all at the same level of development, so we should also seek opportunities to provide mentorship to each other in different aspects of customs operations,” he said.

He urged the new Vice-Chair to take measures that would bring the region’s customs administrations together, emphasising that they could draw strength from one another to address their challenges.
“The handover document has identified some immediate challenges that the Vice-Chair will confront in the months ahead.

“The most important of these is the need to mobilise funds and resources to support our activities in the region.

“We are in the process of organising another conference, so I want to urge the Vice-Chair to prioritise this programme,” he said.

Adeniyi also stressed that the office requires the support of the host government and expressed hope that the Malian government would provide the necessary backing to ensure the success of the country’s tenure.