Seminar gathering A-CIP contributors organized remotely with the Customs of Niger

05 October 2020

As part of the scoping phase of the WCO Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme, the Customs of Niger organized on 22-23 September 2020, in Niamey, an innovative seminar which brought together more than 40 participants, internal contributors (directors, heads of departments, Customs officers) and external (private sector representatives, economic operators, institutional partners).

Due to the Covid-19 the constraints, the seminar organizers, with the support of the A-CIP Programme, used remote working tools and methods both to prepare and facilitate the meetings: strategic meeting by videoconference between the A-CIP team and the Director General of Customs; design and provision of a remote working kit and tools; organization of working sessions; remote intervention of A-CIP experts in plenary sessions during the two days of the seminar.

During his speech, Colonel Harouna Habdallah, Director General of Customs of Niger, mobilized internal and external contributors around the three objectives of the meeting: inform on the priorities of the Customs of Niger in the fight against corruption and integrity promotion; raise awareness on objectives of the A-CIP Programme; and allow participants to assess the situation and reflect on priority actions to be deepened and/or implemented in link with the strategy of the administration and the key factors of the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration.

In conclusion, the Director General declared that "corruption in Customs does not happen in a vacuum" and that "it is most often a much larger societal problem involving multiple stakeholders”. First step of the scoping phase, in addition to collecting high-quality contributions, the success of the seminar demonstrated that it is possible, through the commitment and adaptation of all actors, to develop effective cooperation and development actions combining remote and face-to-face approaches.

For more information about the WCO A-CIP Programme, please visit the WCO A-CIP Programme page, or contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.