Barring any last minute changes, President Bola Tinubu has signalled plans not to activate provisions of the law that allowed him extend tenure of the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, despite requests from lawmakers, traditional rulers and the law enforcement officer himself for an extension of service time.
The Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) 2023 though does not allow the Comptroller-General to serve four years but the tenure could be extended by the President considering his status in the country.
Tinubu, who specifically picked Adeniyi to achieve his agenda of rebranding the Customs to meet global standards, was said to have expressed dissatisfaction over the officer’s performance to implement the change that formed the decision to consider him for the job.
Although he has sustained revenue generation into the federal government purse which was bases on which the appeal for tenure elongations was solicited for just like his counterpart, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, who has been rewarded with extension inspite of the protest by the activists including the former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore.
But for Adeniyi, more grounds were said to have been left uncovered since assuming office on 19th October, 2023, and other atrocities were alleged to have been perpetrated under his noise without any hindrance even after the Customs boss was alerted by officers under the service, the smugglers were left to operate unhindered.
With this, the president was said to have decided that the Customs boss would be made to embark on his retirement leave on 3rd of May 2025 and appoint another officer possibly from the Southeast region who would manage the agency pending the appointment of a substantive officer to lead.
Shedding light on why Tinubu may have chosen not to extend the privilege received by Egbetokun to Adeniyi, an aide to the President, who was privy to the decision made by the president and doesn’t want his name mentioned, hinted The Guild correspondent that except for any change of intention, Adeniyi’s chances of getting tenure extension has been cancelled even when the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, is yet to present the request.
He added that President’s assignments handed to Adeniyi were not actualized and that Tinubu could not wait to get him out of office to rebrand the Customs towards becoming a 21st century agency that he aimed to achieve under his administration.
According to him, the security report against the Comptroller-General were not in his favour and the president isn’t happy that the man appointed by him could be sabotaging his efforts to stop smuggling and other atrocities perpetrated through the.country’s entry ports.
An aide to the Finance minister, who chose to speak anonymous, disclosed to The Guild that though the Customs boss has tendered a tenure elongations request before but the body language of the President has continuously held Edun back to recommend tenure extension for Adeniyi.
The aide explained that such requests could only be presented when the President has signalled such plans, saying the Minister can only recommend but the final decision lies with Tinubu who appointed the Comptroller-General.
Although, Chairman of the House Committee on Customs and Excise, Leke Abejide, is advocating for an amendment of the CEMA 2023 Act to allow for the appointment of a Comptroller General of Customs for a four-year tenure to ensure completion of their ideology for the agency.
While the lawmaker revealed this plan while being conducted around the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Customs headquarters in Ikeja by the Comptroller, Kola Oladeji, some officers of the agency have appealed that the law shouldn’t be adjusted at the moment to prevent Adeniyi from benefitting from such gesture.
One of the senior officers who spoke to our reporter in Abuja, narrated that the tenure of the CGC has been marked with atrocities that were against the ethics of the Customs, saying our boss had been allegedly aiding drug traffickers through one of the entry ports in Apapa axis of Lagos State.
The female Customs officer stated that tramadol importers were alleged to have gotten their boss nod using the office to bring into the country contraband items.
She added that even when the senior officers raised observations over the items, when they realized that the importers had allegedly gotten the Customs boss attention, they retract immediately to avoid the CGC’s wrath.
Another officer in Oyo, who was earlier skeptical to speak over the issue considering the consequences attached to it, disclosed that unlike previous Customs boss, the incumbent officer had allegedly setup a special team that often intercept executive Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) from smugglers and rather than declare it as stipulated by law, the vehicles found their way to one Suraj, who was identified as his Spiritual aide.
According to him, this vehicles were allegedly sold to car dealers through the back door to avoid any trace to the CGC with the proceeds shared.
Aside from that, he noted that Adeniyi has allegedly used his office to extend the tenure of service for six senior officers including his Chief of Staff, an act that was not necessary considering that it has affected promotion of other officers in service.
“Meanwhile, he has redeployed many of the senior Customs officers from Southwest that could replace him to positions that will affect their chances of becoming the CGC for the agency.
Another atrocity committed by the Customs boss, according to a National Assembly staff, was age falsification which contravene the law.
The female aide disclosed that the Customs boss had worked with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) before being enlisted into the law enforcement agency.
“He didn’t declare this but investigation by the lawmakers revealed it but the probe was later dropped by the lawmakers after different appeals”.
