Working in the Nigeria Customs Service entails a lot of hardships especially in a country with diverse cultural background like Nigeria. Whoever wants to take a job in the service must be prepared for strenuous training, he/she must be willing to take risks, he/she will definitely learn to endure harsh weather especially in the northern part of the country, the fellow will learn to manage the work and his/her family because the nature of the work may take him/her away from the family once in a while. Working in the Nigeria Customs Service is challenging but it gives room for healthy competitions among the officers. There is opportunity for staff development based on annual performance evaluation of activities of individual officers. I have no reservations whatsoever in recommending the job to young men and women who want to seek employment in the Nigeria Customs Service. I served there for 32 years and rose to the rank of Superintendent. No regrets.
If I understand your question, biggest mistake May imply mistakes that could NOT be easily corrected. I didn't make any. Though no human being is perfect, the type of training I got prepared me for most of the challenges that I met on the job.
You can't talk of stressful day in the Nigeria Customs Service. There were times when you may be on long-distance patrols from wherever is your operational base to any part of the country. You can only complain of being stressed when you have health challenges.
It's part of your training to be able to control yourself in whatever situation you may find yourself. Therefore, there was hardly a situation I found myself that I couldn't control.
It takes you virtually round the country. You meet people from various background. Nigeria is a heterogeneous society comprising of about 250 different cultures. Working with the Nigeria Customs Service takes you round the country, and so widen your knowledge about various cultural backgrounds.
Nigeria Customs Service is a paramilitary organization. The scope of it's work covers mobile patrol the border, enforcement of import and export prohibition orders, excise control over locally manufactured goods and general security duties. In order to carry out these aforementioned assignment, officers of the service are continually trained and retrained in football drills, weaponry, investigation and detective programs and computer appreciation. The goals of the service are:
- Collection of maximum duties due on all durable imports, selected exports and all excusable items. They also collect fines and penalties.
- Enforcement of import and export prohibition orders by way of patrols, detection, investigation and prosecution.