If the above headline is put into vote whether by open or secret ballot among the men and officers of Nigeria customs service, there is likelihood that an overwhelming majority will go for customs autonomy. The reason is not farfetched. For the protagonist of the Autonomy of Nigeria customs, the argument is that such is the practice universally. And so, if customs elsewhere in the developed world is autonomous, why wont Nigeria join .

By the way, before further argument for against the above issue for discourse, suffice it to say that by the autonomy of customs, one is talking about detaching the customs from the federal ministry of finance as their supervising ministry. Recall that at oner time or the other they have been tossed from ministry of internal affairs, board of internal affairs and now ministry of finance.

There is no doubt that the point of their movement or migration, there is a system dislocation and the men and the affairs will be made to learn or take fresh orientation in their new supervising ministry. Indeed, for every dislocation of the Nigeria customs as the nation's number one revenue earner, there is a huge loss of man- hour and revenue.

Certainly, nature of the job the revenue collectors are involved in does not really requires any kind of distraction.it is because of the sensitivity of such job that a case is being made here for the autonomy of the service.There is no much need arguing the autonomy of customs service because all over the world the customs are independent of any ministerial supervision.

There are lots of reasons advanced on why the Nigerian service shoul be set free from the clutches of the present ministry. Aside from the fact that independent of any sort is usually sweet, it is only individual or system that can understand their internal problems and workings, hence an ' outsider' cannot do it better.

Theses may be part of the reason tgovernment for about nineteen years have battled with the issues of custom reforms without resort. Even as they go through another round of reform, bookmaker already know the result of the on-going reform irrespective of any miracle that would be made by the Abdullahi Dikko management team at the saddle of leadership.

To pluck the holes in the Nigerian customs and make it work effectively to maximum benefit of the Nigeria society is in the hands of Nigeria customs. They won't pluck such holes except when they become autonomy.

And that is why they continued argument that customs autonomy will bring efficiency on the service renewed vigor and fresh commitment to duty. It will reduce the present huge distraction in all ramification from the present supervising minister. By that , unnecessary financial budden that stresses the system will reduce.

What drive the Nigeria customs today is over tasking by the federal ministry of finance ,over tasking by way of raising a lot of revenue target which the service must meet at the end of every fiscal year. Under such huge task over hang, the men and officer do the much they could to please the task master even when some of the revenues were squeezed out of the hands of the payer by means not dignifying and void of professionalism.

The lack of such decorum in the course of doing such high sensitive duty has led to the death of many service men and women. Beyond the excessive pressure brought to the servicemen by the very high targets

given them annually, it is advanced that government should reduce such targets and harness other areas of raising government revenue . When such pressure is reduced, the service will work according to the normal pace. The case being made here can only work if we have an autonomous customs who understands itself better than it is understood by it's supervisors .

An informed customs hierarchy knows the limitations of the officers and men. It also Understands when to mobilise them and when to call them back to camp. An informed Custom hierarchy whose vote comes direct from the presidency does not need any approval from any ministry before welfare package is approved. Equally, he does not require clearance from anyone before engaging the officers in training or retraining.

These are some of the inherent advantages of an autonomous Nigeria custom service. An autonomous Custom service will have an independent salary scale which will be Determined by the presidency.

There is no motivation any where in the world better than the one given by the president of the given country. In Nigeria today, Federal road safety commission (FRSC) is enjoying such benefit and protection, so also bureau for public enterprises (BPE), likewise due process office, Economic Financial Crimes Commission- EFCC among others.

For now, there seem to be no better way of reforming the Nigeria customs but to make it an autonomous agency directly responsible to the presidency.After all having attempted reforming a system for about eighteen times, with each not achieving the necessary results, it is natural to look for alternative way of bettering the lots activities and service of Nigeria customs is by granting the service this all important freedom.

If facts must be faced, it is shameful for an organisation that existed for over a hundred years now to still have it's fate determined by another agency of the government . If the issue of custom anatomy is peculiar to nigeria, one could say, let us ignore it but since a global norm, the federal government should such autonomy of the last segment in the on-going process of customs reform.

Anything contrary to that may be counterproductive in the process of reforming the Nigeria customs and making them optimally productive to the over benefit and development of the nation socio- economic life.

Because of the passion by the present Comptroller-General of Customs Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko to better the lives of his officers and men, hence welfare topped his six-points agenda as the CGC, it is possible, one may witness great changes in the system, the tonic that will change the entire workings of Nigeria Customs remain that of autonomy.

When customs become autonomous, it is expected to lead to robust motivation which will control the urge of officers towards criminal tendencies. If all the benefits needed by an officer is available for to work, including good salary, allowances, equipment, such an officer may no longer see reason to double as clearing agent and at the same time, Customs Officer.

This is the situation now. When an officer is ably motivated by the system, he will not have reason to hobnob with smugglers or envy them. Such officer will see his job as a genuine call to duty and to protect the economic interest of his society.

At the moment, the 7 per cent statutory deductions for customs welfare hardly get to anywhere. This equally has put the leadership under severe pressures aimed at making sure they put smiles on the faces of the officers and men of the services. At raising the revenue to augment has not been funny and jostle of funds here and there has not rally helped the system but rather has created rooms for corruption at the highest level, especially from the accounting unit of the service.

If customs is made autonomous, there will be a better transparent way of doing things as the system will compel everybody to strictly play according to the rule of the game.

We have watched previous administrations of Nigeria Customs pursue the issue of reforms. And as many of them as made efforts failed. If it were not so, we, I mean, Nigerians would have seen and appreciated them. And so, as Alhaji Dikko struggles to make the service better than the way he inherited it, the ultimate Nigerians expect from his team of reformers is that the end of the Customs reform programme should be that Nigeria Customs has become autonomous.

Dikko has got the magic wand in his hands moreover being one officer that has the ears of the president, officers and men of Nigeria Customs want Dikko to bequeath to them, an autonomous Customs they will be proud of. When such is done, not only will Dikko's name be written in gold among the customs but Nigerians will indeed appreciate him because thee are lots of unprintable gains accruable in an autonomous customs system.

If other parts of the global society are enjoying such benefits and goodies, Nigerian people equally deserve part of it if not all.