By Bridgett Milton
Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Commissioner General Mr. Thomas Doe Nah has cautioned newly graduated Customs Officers to serve the Liberian people with vigilance and dedication.
Commissioner Doe Nah challenged the LRA’s 4th Customs graduating class during the 71st International Customs Day celebration last week.
For the last three months, the LRA boss said, members of the class went through a knowledge acquisition exercise, reminding them that knowledge is the foundation that LRA stands on.
He said LRA was glad to join other counties around the world to celebrate International Customs Day (ICD) and to nurture the next generation.
Also speaking, LRA Commissioner for Customs Saa Saamoi said the World Customs Organization (WCO) is the outcome of the post-conflict recovery efforts of Europe following the end of the disastrous global war – World War II.
Saamoi noted that the graduation exercise for the LRA Customs Officers was the fourth since 2021 following the launch of the institution’s Customs Security Program.
The Customs Security Program was launched in July 2019, to build customs competencies in the area of security as a direct response to the growing regional and global security threats to the international supply chain.
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He added that this year, they celebrate the customs pride on the theme “Nurturing the Next Generation: Promoting a Culture of Knowledge-sharing and Professional Pride in Customs.”
He said this theme is reflective of ongoing national efforts to support their customs officers through encouraging knowledge-sharing and heightening the sense of belonging to the global customs community.
“It places human capital, and especially the new generation of customs officers, at the heart of this transformative process,” he said.
“This reminds us that the process of building the future of customs depends on our human resource management recruitment policies, which should be streamlined towards recruiting young, energetic, and talented officers for Customs.”
According to Saamoi, the future of customs depends on the young generation, adding that they are physically stronger, creative, flexible, and adaptive to changing environments, technologies, and new lifestyles.
In line with this year’s ICD theme, he said the customs management team will in the next two weeks consolidate and launch the ‘each one nurture one’ mentorship.
He indicated that the program is aimed at building organizational morale, behavioral norms, values, and specific skills and knowledge transfer to younger officers of the future.
This, he said, will include mentees’ professional access to mentors at all times and mentees’ participation in training with their mentors and travels related to mentors’ professional activities.
Serving as the keynote speaker, National Security Advisor to the President Mr. Jefferson A. Karmoh paid homage to the men and women at LRA for the role they continue to play in ensuring that goods entering and leaving the country pass through the laws and regulations of Liberia.
Karmoh encouraged graduates to always remember their code of responsibility, safe guiding society from harmful goods, and secure the boarders against harmful trade and customs revenue.
Fifty-eight custom officers were awarded certificates after 12 weeks of intensive training in basic police science, customs procedure, Liberian laws, criminal investigation, case filing, court processes, human rights, gender, and tactical security skills.
Previously, 153 LRA customs officers graduated from the Liberia National Police Training Academy since the commencement of the LRA Customs Security program in 2021.
The security program aims at building the law enforcement capability of Customs Officers to be commensurate with other national security institutions.
It is a vital requirement in meeting the standards of the World Customs Organization (WCO). –Edited by Winston W. Parley
