Customs Spends N70bn on CSR Projects Nationwide in Two Years – Adeniyi
The Nigeria Customs Service has spent more than N70bn on corporate social responsibility projects across the country in less than two years, Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, has disclosed.
Adeniyi made the disclosure on Monday in Modakeke, Osun State, while speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the commissioning of the renovated Ife Girls High School, Ile-Ife, renovated under the NCS’s CSR initiative.
According to him, the service has identified schools and other educational facilities across the country where targeted interventions could improve learning conditions and make education more attractive to young Nigerians.
He said the CSR programme was funded through contributions from Customs personnel, with officers committing part of their annual salaries to projects designed to benefit communities.
> “Last year, our budget for CSR into this was in the region of N70 billion, and from there we are able to commit what we have done in this school,” Adeniyi said.
The Customs chief stressed that government alone could not address the country’s infrastructure deficit in the education sector, calling for greater contributions from individuals, Parent-Teacher Associations, charitable organisations and foundations.
“It is practically impossible for the government to do it all alone. The budget they have for education will not support this kind of renovation,” he said.
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Explaining why Ife Girls High School was selected for the intervention, Adeniyi said the institution, which is about 60 years old, was once a thriving girls’ secondary school but had suffered significant infrastructural deterioration.
He said the condition of some facilities had become so deplorable that the school’s laboratory was overgrown with vegetation and had become a habitat for snakes and squirrels before the intervention.
“Female children are particularly more necessary to us because of their special needs. I grew up in this community and this used to be a thriving female secondary school,” he said.
Adeniyi said the school’s enrolment had declined significantly over the years, reaching about 200 students before the renovation, stressing that the intervention was intended to help restore confidence in girl-child education.
He expressed satisfaction that stakeholders, including the school’s old girls’ association, the Osun State Government and the Ooni of Ife, had embraced efforts to revive the institution.
The school principal, Mrs Akinremi Iyabo, commended the Customs Service for the intervention and assured that the renovated facilities would be properly maintained.
The NCS had earlier announced the “Customs Care” initiative, under which its personnel pledged a portion of their annual salaries to fund CSR projects.
At the launch of the initiative, Adeniyi said the contribution reflected the service’s commitment to supporting communities and improving public welfare through targeted interventions.
By PRNigeria
