NRA DEPUTY FINANCE AND BUDGET DIRECTOR VOTED CHAIR OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE OF THE WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICAN REGION OF THE WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATIONS (WCO).

The Deputy Director of Finance of the National Revenue Authority, EDWIN CONTEH has been elected Chairman of the Audit Committee of the West and Central African Region of the World’s Customs Organization (WCO) with Headquarters in Brussels. The West and Central African region of the WCO comprises (23) twenty-three nations including Sierra Leone. The newly Sierra Leonean elected audits Chairman Edwin Conteh is a Fellow Chartered Accountant, a Finance and Performance Management expert with experience spanning over sixteen years in both private and public sector organizations. Throughout his professional career, Mr Conteh has especially exhibited a lot of expertise in audits. The Commissioner General- Dr. Samuel Jibao reacting to the election of Mr. Conteh said, “he is very proud of the appointment”. Within the current structures of the WCO/ WCA' the audit committee works under the authority of the Conference of the Customs Directors General ensuring adherence to governance and internal control procedures. It has the authority to conduct and authorize investigations into any matter within its scope of responsibility with specific regard to the implementation of WCO/ WCA strategic plans, budget allocation, performance monitoring policies and risk mitigation. Mr. Edwin Conteh has in the last five months been working with the WCO/ WCA in areas of developing terms of references for the Finance and Audit Committee, update of Financial Procedure Manual and lots more. Perhaps therefore he is overwhelmingly voted for as best suited for the position. The World Customs Organisation (WCO) comprises Customs and Revenue Administrations of several regional bodies around the world based on their geographical location. The WCO is noted for its work in areas covering the development of international conventions, instruments, and tools on topics such as commodity classification, valuation, rules of origin, collection of customs revenues, supply chain security, international trade facilitation, customs enforcement activities, combating counterfeiting in support of intellectual property rights. Membership of the West and Central African region includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.