J.G. Buba, a Seventh-day Adventist local church elder, is the new comptroller-general of the Nigerian Customs Service. His appointment was celebrated at a recent Sabbath service in the nation’s federal capital, Abuja.

Dr. Joseph Adebisi Ola, president of the Adventist Church in Nigeria, said the appointment of Buba to this position is “a challenge to members of the church in Nigeria, who have been indirectly called upon to wage a war against corruption that have eaten deep into the fabric of the nation.”

Pastor Ola observed that one of the most corrupt sectors of Nigeria’s workforce is the Customs Service. This has not only contributed to Nigeria’s negative image, but has done untold damage to the nation’s economy. Pastor Ola said the appointment of Buba to clear the “rubbish” in the customs service indirectly challenges the church as a whole to help fight corrupt practices in Nigeria.

The president pleaded with Buba to “be a good ambassador of the church by holding firm to the faith of Jesus in the performance of his duties.”

Buba, who was a senior employee of the Nigerian Customs Service before his promotion, is aware of the challenges he now faces. In an interview with “The Day,” a weekly newspaper in Lagos, Nigeria, he emphasized that the service will expect honesty from both its employees and from importers, who in the past have tried to circumvent paying duties. “It takes two to tango,” he said, emphasizing that if there’s no offer of corruption on either side of a deal, corruption would cease.

He also refuted suggestions that “juju,” or the mystical use of a fetish object, was involved in his bypassing other candidates to win the appointment.

“The issue of juju and all that, I don’t know because I am a Christian and I don’t believe in it,” he told the newspaper. “I believe in prayers in getting anything from God. Christians or Muslims should not serve other gods apart from the Almighty God of creation. ... I may not be able to tell you how I emerged [to attain this position] but I know I am qualified to sit on this seat and I thank God for that.”

There are more than 200,000 Seventh-day Adventist Christians in Nigera, whose 133 million people makes it West Africa’s most populous nation.