World Customs Day 2023: OTR in walking caravan

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Extract from the article: The Togolese Revenue Office (OTR) organized this Saturday, January 28, 2023, a walking caravan to mark the International Customs Day (IDD) 2023 edition. This sporting activity has mobilized the senior staff of the OTR, including the Commissioner Gene

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The Togolese Revenue Office (OTR) organized this Saturday, January 28, 2023, a walking caravan to mark the International Customs Day (IDD) 2023 edition. This sporting activity has mobilized the senior staff of the OTR, including the Commissioner General Phillipe Kokou Tchodie. It was in the presence of the Regional Director of Sports of Lomé, Issola Akakpo, representing the Minister of Sports.

Started on January 26, 2023, the World Customs Day ended on Saturday, January 28, 2023 by a caravan of walking. The kick-off of this walk was given at the direction of the OTR. For an hour, participants walked through the streets of Lomé including the boulevard Gnassingbé Eyadéma through Novissi, boulevard Jean Paul II and ending with that of the Army. After all this long journey, the walkers also performed stretching and flexibility exercises to allow the muscles to relax.

In his speech, the Deputy Commissioner General of the OTR, Agozo Midjesseribi thanked all participants for the perfect success of this event. He also reaffirmed the importance of sport in the promotion of human health in particular and in the Togolese Office of Revenue in general. « Sport is an integral part of the disciplines that must be perpetuated and especially when it is part of a body like the customs », he said.  

The practice of this sport at the end of this day shows the commitment and willingness nurtured by the customs to help Togolese youth to adhere to their ideology in the promotion of sport as advocated by the government.   For the Regional Director of Sports of Lomé, Issola Akakpo, this sports mobilization comes to strengthen the government's initiatives on the National Day of Sport established by the government in order to promote not only the practice of sport and physical activities, but also to contribute to the fight against non-transmissible diseases recurrent among the population such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke, or obesity.

For this 2023 edition, the celebration of this day is placed under the sign of « the accompaniment of the new generation, the promotion of knowledge sharing and the strengthening of the pride of the customs profession ». Thus, the objective of this theme is to place human capital, and in particular the new generation, at the heart of the transformation of the customs service. An objective that fits very well with the policy of the current leaders of the OTR since their arrival at the head of the institution in 2019. Several other activities have marked this day including: conference-debates on ethics and professional conduct of the customs profession, experience sharing with the former Commissioner for Trade, Customs and Free Movement, a ceremony to award certificates.

Joseph GANGUI