Customs generally play a private role in
the economic life of any county. There is hardly any sector of the economy that
is not directly or indirectly by the activities of customs. The functions of
the Nigeria customs service include, but not limited to the following:
-
Collection
of revenue (import/excise duties & other taxes (levies ) and accounting of same:
-
Anti
–smuggling activities
-
Security
functions
-
Generating
statistics for planning and budgetary
purposes,
-
Monitoring
foreign exchange utilization etc
-
Engaging in research planning and enforcement of fiscal
polices of government
-
Manifest
processing
-
Licensing
and registration of customs agents
-
Registration
and designation of collecting banks and
working in collaboration with other government agencies in all approved ports and border station
ROLE OF PUBLIC
RELATIONS
The most important requirement for a
public relations practitioner is to be
is to be aware of the political,
social and economic environment
in which he operator. He should equally considered the conflicts of interest
which the majority of his publics
suffer
the conflicting interests are those of the
family, the community, government and company. But more often than not, the average Nigerian is
a viction of divided loyalty and lacks identification with the
government private employer using
his services . those
responsibilities vary in degree in
different organizations as follows:
a.
The
public relations man helps
the management to evaluat and
interpret the opinions, attitude andaspirations of the various publics and the
internal and external actitives
of the organization
b.
The
manage crisis and issues
c.
To
organize a programme of action where the public express views on important new projects
before final decision is reached.
d.
To
inform the populace of government policies and day to day
activities
e.
Reputation
or image management : the planning
and implementing of policies, procedures and strategies that
demonstrate an organizations commitment
to public and social responsibilities
ethical behavior, corporate
identity and reputation with key
public
f.
Issues
management : This involves indentifying
and then developing and executing a program to deal with them. Included is the study of public policy matters of concern to an organization
IMAGE PROBLEM
From
the research embacked on as a public relations
student, statistics have shown
have in a panoramic view that the Nigeria
customs have image problem.
No
doubt about that, the information and view of people
randomly , uniformly or in the same manner have clearly without any
form of bias shown or indicated that Nigeria customs have lapses in the cause of discharging their duty or in their
operation.
As
a matter of fact, there is every
tendency for image repairing in Nigeria
customs which pave a great
way for reputation, where by reverse of image problem will be corrected for the betterment of the organization
THE WAY OUT
Now,
knowing full well that public relations is every good tools for
image repairing as a public
relations student I adverse
that Nigeria customs should allow public relation as a
matter of urgency to work into
Nigeria customs very well for
them to bring out the good or the best in them for
the betterment of organization
and for the entire citizen of Nigeria.
Since
we all know that public relation can make or mar the organization, Nigeria customs should
allow public relations to have
they full role of reputation or image management ; the planning and implementing of polices,
procedures and strategies that demonstrate an organizations commitment
to public and social responsibilities ethical behavior, Cooperate identify
and reputation with key public.
CONCLUSION
Public
relations as a management philosophy should be understood to include all effort towards achieving organization goals and
objectives as a means of ensuring that all the department of other
organization are made to understand that
their actions are what other public will
use in rating the organization
Whatever
polices or rules, the institution has regarding
promotion, discipline, dismissal
and transfer should be followed
strictly and accordingly to avoid lapses.
The
organization should seek to operate in
time or provide better motivational facilities than other similar organization.
It is the researcher belief that public relations is a potent tool for marketing
of goods and services for good reputation of any organization in the country
REFERENCES
Benson
Eluwa (1999) Public Relation: A
Practical Approach
Published by Virgin
Creation 4 Accra Street Uwani – Enugu, Chapter
1:3, 3:111=112
Nweke
Okey F.F (2001) Public Relations Practice,
Published, (A
Division of
Hamson PAL AGNC LTD BOX 2223, Enugu) Chapter 1:1