Nigeria Customs Service enhances awareness and engagement in Gender Equality and Diversity

In collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the WCO held a follow-up mission in Abuja, Nigeria on implementing Gender Equality and Diversity in Customs from 28 October to 1 November 2024.

The follow-up mission was part of the West Africa Security Project (WASP) gender equality and diversity (GED) component. This project, funded by Germany's Federal Foreign Office, is a collaboration between the WCO and the German Central Customs Authority. This project aims to promote a work environment that respects diversity and promotes equal treatment and equal opportunities. This project component particularly aims to support the partner Customs administrations in developing and implementing dedicated GED action plans.

The WCO team, comprising one expert from Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) and one expert from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), held meetings with various units within the NCS, including the NCS GED Committee and NCS management, to discuss the objectives and activities of the draft NCS GED action plan developed as a result of NCS participation in the advanced sub-regional workshop organized by WCO in April 2024. As a result of the discussions, updates were made to the GED action plan to further incorporate identified needs. The mission also included a training session on GED to raise further awareness of the topic among NCS staff.

Around 70 Customs officers (officials of all grades) participated in the GED training, which provided them with a comprehensive understanding of key GED concepts and the importance of mainstreaming gender in NCS policies and activities.

Based on the discussions, recommendations were made to disseminate GED information to all NCS officers, including encouraging them to complete CliKC! GED e-learning modules to further increase awareness of GED issues in Customs.

The WCO looks forward to continuing its collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service to implement the recommendations resulting from the GED follow-up mission.

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