The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has commenced preparations for the 2026 basic training programme for new recruits and cadets with a retreat for trainers drawn from various training disciplines.
The retreat, held at the Customs Training College in Lagos on Wednesday, brought together trainers responsible for areas including drill, medicals, security, sports and other aspects of the Service’s training programme.
Speaking at the event, Assistant Comptroller-General ( ACG) in charge of Human Resource Development, Frank Onyeka, said the initiative was part of the innovations introduced by the Service to bring trainers together under one platform rather than having them operate in separate segments.
Onyeka urged the trainers to work as a team and review the training modules with a view to producing officers the Service and the society would be proud of.
He said working in silos could undermine the desired results, stressing the need for collaboration and knowledge sharing among the trainers.
“If you don’t work like a team, you will not get the desired results. Working in silos will not give us what we want, but if you come together as a team, it is a natural answer,” he said.
He also urged heads of the various training units to take full responsibility for their areas while remaining open to contributions from others.
He said nobody had a monopoly of knowledge and advised the trainers not to dismiss or condemn the views of their colleagues.
“To deliver this process and to get the desired results, all of us must work as one,” Onyeka said.
He recalled his experience as a trainer in 2008 and 2009, saying the officers trained during that period had rose through the ranks with some serving as Controllers.
According to him, the success recorded by those trainees was partly attributable to the collaborative efforts of the trainers at the time.
Explaining the rationale behind the retreat, Onyeka said the Service had previously trained its trainers in segments, with different resource persons and instructors meeting them at different times.
He said the new approach was designed to bring all the trainers under one roof to promote a common understanding and ensure that everyone worked towards the same objective.
“You bring a resource person, talk to them. You bring the drill instructors, talk to them. It was taking time. So, instead of breaking these segments, we brought everybody under one roof for the same purpose, to get the same results and drive towards the same purpose,” he said.
He added that the approach would save time and promote greater coordination among the trainers ahead of the commencement of the basic training programme.
On what he expects from the new recruits, Onyeka urged them to demonstrate discipline, perseverance, and calmness throughout their training.
“They should be calm, they should be gentle, they should have perseverance, and they should exhibit a very high level of discipline,” he said.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Commandant of the Ikeja Training College, Deputy Comptroller Precious Itah, described the retreat as the first of its kind.
Itah said the retreat was important to set the pace for the training programme and urged the trainers to approach the exercise with an open mind.
The Coordinator of the retreat, Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs Greg Itotoh (rtd.), also addressed participants at he event.
He charged the trainers to be free to discuss anything without holding back noting that in such a way, grey areas will be exposed and solutions will not be far-fetched.
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