The ongoing five-day training on Human Resources Management for Customs Officials organised by the West Africa Customs Organisation with a view to boosting the human resources competencies of regional Customs officials is indeed tangible and timely.

Human resource management is a wide term and is based on the effective usage of workers and employees to accomplish the objectives of an organisation. It is present in each and every organisation. Its primary functions are to efficaciously utilise the talents and capabilities of the employees to reach the planned operational goals of the organisation, and ensure that the employee is comfortable working with and satisfied with the working conditions, and different policies regarding compensation and benefits that are offered to him.

Suffice it to say, human resource management plays a very important role in managing, controlling, developing, and maintaining the workforce, which significantly contributes to the existence and profitability of the organisation. They are in continuous contact with the top-level management of the establishment and are responsible for assisting the management to run the processes efficiently.

Building the human resource management capacity of the regional Customs officials would therefore engender the modernisation of our Customs organisations and ensure that effectiveness and efficiency become the order of day. We therefore implore on the participants to make maximum utilisation of the skills and knowledge acquired in the training in their daily work routine and ensure that they share the acquired knowledge with colleagues who are not privileged to partake in the training.