Tema, May 16, GNA - A United States (US) Customs and Border Protection Agency (USCBPA) team is expected in the country next week to run refresher courses for officials of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) on effective border protection.

Announcing this at a two-day workshop for Management and officers of the Tema CEPS Collection Point at Tema on Wednesday, Mr Alfred Zinbankaara Sorinu, Principal Collector in charge of Corporate Planning, said the officials would be taken through both customs and immigration duties.

He said: "We have reached a stage where a global integrated management is accepted, which require both Customs and Immigration Service to share ideas and experiences to promote security." He allayed the fears of CEPS officials that part of their duties were to be handed over to the Immigration Service (IS) to perform as was being speculated.

Mr Sorinu called for innovations into the operations of the Service to promote growth and impressed on the entire staff to offer constructive and meaningful suggestions as well as contributions to achieve the results.

He stressed the need to improve the quality human resource of CEPS through training to improve upon their welfare and also be competitive to perform efficiently in other institutions apart from Customs. The Tema Collection Point, he said has the potential of changing the fortunes of Customs revenue collection as it collects about 70 percent of the national revenue and urged the staff to put in their best at work. In an address, Alhaji Mohammed Nasuurideen, CEPS Sector Commander of Tema, called for the ability to foster trust, sharing of information to generate and implement innovative ideas for change.