PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has extended the tenure of the Comptroller-General (CG) of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi.
Adeniyi’s tenure, which is due to expire on August 31, 2025, has been extended by one year.
According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Thursday, July 31, the extension, approved by Tinubu, will enable Adeniyi to consolidate ongoing reforms and complete critical initiatives of the administration.
He listed the reforms to include the modernisation of the Nigeria Customs Service, the implementation of the National Single Window Project, and the execution of Nigeria’s obligations under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) protocol.
He said Tinubu recognised the CG’s “steadfast leadership” and commitment to service.
He added that the president was confident that Adeniyi’s tenure extension would further strengthen the Nigeria Customs Service to achieve its strategic mandate of trade facilitation, revenue generation, and border security.
Tinubu appointed Adeniyi as the CG of the Nigeria Customs Service in October 2023.
He took over from former CG, Hameed Ali. Adeniyi had led the organisation in an acting capacity before his confirmation in October of the same year.
He recently became the chairman of the World Customs Organisation, a group of over 180 countries. Sources told The ICIR on Thursday that the appointment could have fueled Tinubu’s decision to extend his tenure.
Recall that Tinubu also approved the appointment of Deputy Controller-General Olumode Adeyemi as the new Controller-General of the Federal Fire Service on Wednesday, July 30.
Adeyemi’s tenure will be effective from August 14, 2025.
The Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board announced the appointment in a statement signed by its Secretary, A.M. Jibril, on behalf of Tinubu, on Wednesday.
The Board noted that Olumode “brings a wealth of experience” to the role, having transferred from the FCT Fire Service to the Federal Fire Service and rising to the position of Deputy Controller-General in charge of Human Resources at the Service headquarters.
The appointment is part of Tinubu’s wider decisions, which place critical government portfolios in the hands of people from the South-West, where he hails from.
Tinubu’s actions followed those of his late predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, who handed sensitive federal institutions to his kinsmen and cronies in the North.
Currently, officials from the South-West are in charge of key federal agencies, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, the Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Nigerian Army, the State Security Services (otherwise known as the Directorate of State Services), Federal Fire Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, the Nigeria Police Force, among others.
The ICIR reports that Tinubu’s predecessor, the late Buhari, unconstitutionally extended the tenures of the former CG, Hameed Ali, the former Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and those of his service chiefs, namely the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Tukur Buratai, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Ibok-Ete Ibas, and Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Sadiq Abubakar.
Despite backlashes caused by the decision, which many Nigerians described as unprecedented and an affront to democracy, the late president stood by his decision.
The ICIR further reports that despite claims of reforms being carried out by the current Customs CG, the Nigerian borders have remained porous, with smuggling uncurbed under his watch.
A reporter with the ICIR
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