The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will continue to wield its “big stick” on officers found to be involved in fraudulent practices.

The spokesperson for customs, Timi Bomodi, told journalists in Abuja that the present administration had zero tolerance for corruption.

Mr Bomodi said officers who had been investigated and found guilty had either been suspended, de-ranked, sent on compulsory retirement or dismissed.

On other measures to fight corruption, Mr Bomodi said the service was working toward ensuring full automation of the service.

He said the service already had a concession agreement with Trade Modernisation Limited to help with the automation process.

“The concession agreement spans 20 years, and for every era, there are certain deliverables that are ascribed to it.

“When you talk about full automation of all our services, you are talking about pre-clearance, clearance and post-clearance.

“You are talking about introducing some facilities that prior to this time did not exist.

“The way modernisation works is that it is going to incorporate all of our functions into one platform to make it easy for officers anywhere in the country to access anything that is happening,” he said.

The spokesperson said with automation, transactions could be viewed in real-time, making it easy to trace any form of compromise.

He said that with the infrastructure and technical know-how required for the project, Huawei, one of the leading Information Communication Technology (ICT) companies, would provide technical support.

“We are already making a transition as officers are being trained locally and internationally, and some of the equipment are beginning to arrive.”

Mr Bomodi said the layers of interaction it would deploy to get data include geospatial information, drone information, and body cameras, among others.

He said aside from fighting corruption, full automation would ensure more secured borders and more revenue generation, among others.

Mr Bomodi said beyond punishing culpable officers and ensuring full automation, staff welfare had been improved to serve as an incentive.

He said remuneration was much better than it used to be, and officers could attest to it.

According to him, with such remuneration, officers still involved in fraudulent practices are doing so at their peril, as they will be punished when caught.

(NAN)