Two years into the administration of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi as Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) the industry is already frightened about the emergence of a post-Adeniyi era, even as industry experts have made a case for tenure elongation for the high-performing Customs boss.
Adeniyi clocks 60 years in January 2026 and presidential appointees, like those in the public service, generally retire at 60 or after 35 years of service, whichever comes first. This applies to the Federal Civil Service as well as other areas of the public service.
Speaking with Sunday Sun at the weekend, the Chief Executive of Maritime Media Limited, Elder Asu Beks posited that if any Comptroller-General should merit a special provision to continue his tenure in office, it should be Bashir Adewale Adeniyi.
His words: “I have covered the maritime sector from my days in Concord, as a pioneer shipping editor in the Concord Newspapers. So, I have been in this sector for a very long time, and I can tell you that I am yet to see a Comptroller-General of Customs that will match the commitment of Adewale Adeniyi.
“We had a Abdullahi Dikko who died a couple of years ago. Dikko was from Katsina State. He did wonderfully well but what Adeniyi has been exemplary in terms of reforms, capacity building, stakeholders engagement, anti-smuggling, trade facilitation, revenue generation, among others. Whatever bad perception people had about Nigeria Customs Service before now, has changed because of his style of leadership.”
Noting that the new Nigeria Customs Service Act also recommends a single tenure for Customs helmsmen, the veteran journalist encouraged President Bola Tinubu to explore alternatives to retain the Customs boss.
“The Tinubu that I know is not somebody who will want to change a winning team and if he can do that for the Inspector General of Police, there’s no reason he can’t do the same thing for the Customs CG.
“In the case of the Inspector General of Police, he went to the National Assembly and got that extension. It was not a presidential fiat. So, there’s no reason why he won’t do the same thing because Wale has done so well. This is because if you remove Adeniyi today, we don’t know who is going to come. The person could rubbish all the good works that Adeniyi has done.
“The average APC party member wants Tinubu to continue beyond 2027 because as far as they are concerned, Tinubu is doing very well and if you bring another person, he may destroy what they think are the good works of Mr President. That is why the party endorsed him, saying there is no vacancy. So, as far as I, Asu Beks, the convener of Maritime Elders’ Forum, is concerned, there is no vacancy in the Customs House,” he added.
News Diet recalls that Adewale Adeniyi was appointed as the substantive Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service on October 19th, 2023 and his tenure is in accordance with the extant provisions of the Public Service Rules (PSR).
According to the PSR, the Chief Executive of a Federal Government Parastatal or Agency, by whatever name called, shall hold office for a single term of five years only on such terms and conditions as may be specified in his letter of appointment.
While there are some exceptions for specific roles like judicial officers who retire at 70, and university lecturers who retire at 65, the general rule for presidential appointments is retirement at 60.
