The Nigeria Customs Service has spent more than N70 billion on corporate social responsibility projects across the country in less than two years, Customs Comptroller-General, Adewale Adeniyi, said on Monday.
Adeniyi disclosed this in Modakeke, Osun State, during the commissioning of the renovated Ife Girls High School, Ile-Ife, an NCS-funded CSR project.
He said the service had identified schools requiring infrastructure upgrades to improve learning environments and make education more attractive to young people.
According to Adeniyi, Customs officers contribute part of their annual salaries to fund the initiative, adding that the service’s CSR budget was about N70 billion last year.
“It is practically impossible for the government to do it all alone. Like-minded people, Parent-Teacher Associations, charitable organisations and foundations will have to prioritise education, particularly infrastructure,” he said.
Adeniyi said Ife Girls High School was selected because it was once a thriving institution but had suffered years of infrastructural decay.
He said the school’s laboratory had become overgrown with vegetation and was inhabited by snakes and squirrels before the intervention.
He added that the renovation was aimed at supporting girl-child education, noting that enrolment had fallen to about 200 pupils before the project.
The school principal, Akinremi Iyabo, commended the Customs Service and pledged that the renovated facilities would be properly maintained.
The NCS had earlier pledged four per cent of officers’ annual wages towards its “Customs Care” CSR initiative, aimed at supporting community-focused projects across the country.