Not many had expected Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, to bounce the Service back to life after nine years of unemployment in the money-making agency for the government.
When the Customs Comptroller General was appointed by President Bola Ahemed Tinubu, on June 1, 2023, to replace Hamid Ali, a retired Colonel, the immediate Customs boss and deceased President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointee, industry stakeholders did not expect him to make much impact in the Service because much of the good hands had retired from the Service between 2004 and until when he took over the mantle of Leadership in the Service.
As a prelude to solving the manpower problem of the Service, late Abdullahi Dikko, the then Customs helmsman, may have secured the President Olusegun Obasanjo’s approval to recruit new set of officers into the Service in 2009. He had his way but his successor Colonel Ali, may have continued from where he had stopped. After the 2009, recruitment into the Service, there had been regular recruitment into the Service between 2012 and now to resolve gap in unemployment in the Service.
The Army Colonel, rtd, may have used his military skills and administrative ingenuity to solve the manpower expertise in the Service as he was said to have given three to four promotions to the newly recruited officers between 2009 and 2015. Indeed, one of the 2009, officers who was said to have performed exceedingly well during the promotion examinations in the Service was said to have been given a double promotion that while his contemporaries have entered the Deputy Comptroller rank and appointed acting Comptrollers of Commands and are doing well, the officer in question was said to have entered the Comptroller’s rank and heading one of the Service most lucrative revenue generating Commands.
Indeed, virtually all the acting Area Controllers that had been appointed in all the Commands , across the country, from Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, Ikeja, Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve centre, FoU, Zone C, Owerri, south eastern Nigeria, Cros river/Akwa Ibom to Command Ogun I, including Kogi/Niger Commands, they appears to be doing well that nobody remembers of the gap in the manpower challenge in the Service any longer.
Given the manpower problem in the Service may have informed why the Lagos state born President Tinubu, has granted six-month extension in service to the Customs boss to ensure the promotion of eligible officers to the enviable rank of Comptroller of Customs and the Compulsory retirement of officers who have attained 60 years of age or have served 35 years and ‘‘to ensure an orderly succession in office’’. He may have ensured an orderly succession of the Area Controllers in office in the Commands with the Deputy Comptrollers without hullaballoos.
Only recently, officers and Men of Kiri Lighter Terminal, KLT, had celebrated and bid fare well to DC.Bolaji Lukman Adigun, who had been redeployed to Port Harcourt II, Command, Onne but the Customs acting Comptroller believes, he had one unfinished duty in the Command: to officially hand over the mantle of Leadership of the Command to his successor, DC. Femi Felix Akanni.
The change in the mantle of leaderships in the Commands may not be different from what the situation was in the Service between 1988 and 2004, before politics found its way into the Service to gain elevation and promotion into the Service.
There is no gain saying the fact that KLT, Command had witnessed a seamless leadership transition on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, as DC. Akanni, formerly assumed duties as the former acting Area Controller, DC. Adigun, has been moved to Onne Command.
During the official handover ceremony, which was said to have featured an official parade to the delight of the officers and invited guests and industry stakeholders including the acting Controller, FoU, Zone a, Ikeja, DC. Oladapo Olukayode Afeni, who was said to have sat alongside officers, stakeholders and Representatives of partner agencies.
Victor Ogagbor, a Chief Superintendent of Customs and the KLT, spokesperson, had said that in his valedictory address, the Command’s former acting Controller, DC. Adigun, had expressed profound gratitude for the opportunity to serve, urging the officers and Men of the Command ‘‘to extend the same loyalty to his successor to succeed’’.
He was said to have urged the officers and men of the KLT Command, ‘‘to extend the same cooperation and commitment to the Command new acting Controller Akanni, stressing that leadership may have changed in KLT but the Constitutional mandate and responsibility of the Service remain constant’’. Taking a closer look at the achievements recorded during his tenure in office, he was said to have highlighted the Command’s revenue performance, noting that as June 2026, the Command had generated N19,404,925,103.53, compared to N14,363,621,664.35, recorded in June, 2025.
He had asserted that the revenue generation with thin the period represented an increase of N5,041,303,439.18 or 35%, marking the highest monthly revenue collection in the history of the Command.
In the area of anti-smuggling operations within the Command, DC. Adigun, who could not hide his feelings had disclosed that the Command under his Leadership had intercepted a ‘‘40’’ Container, TIIU4739360, conveying expired disposable vapes with Duty Paid Value, DPV, of N809698,761.00.
The Customs former acting Controller of KLT, had revealed that it had intercepted a ‘‘20’’, Container, GESU3900612, containing 440 bags of 25Kg of expired raw materials, described as Tripple Pressed Stearic Acid imported from the Asia country of Indonesia, with a DPV, ofN36,556,539.00.
He did not stop there. He had highlighted the interception of another ‘‘40’’, Container MSKU4798018, AT Joliz Terminal for false declaration, with a DPV, of N5,010,000.00
DC. Adigun, had attributed these laudable achievements by the Command under his leadership at KLT, ‘‘to the collective commitment and professionalism of officers and men of the Command’’ while appreciating the industry stakeholders, partner Federal Government agencies and the Media’ ‘for their Cooperation and support’’.
Without sounding immodest, DC. Adigun, had expressed appreciation to the Customs Comptroller General, CGC.Adeniyi, and the management of the NCS, as well as the Assistant Comptroller Generals in charge of Zone A, Lagos national office, during his tenure, ‘‘for their guidance, confidence and support’’.
DC. Akanni, may have used the opportunity provided for the handover ceremony at the KLT Command premises to speak out. He had congratulated is predecessor, DC. Adigun, on his achievements and wished him well in his new area of assignment at Onne Command.
He had expressed appreciation to CGC.Adeniyi, and the management team, of the Service, for the confidence reposed on him to lead the KLT, and had assured the officers and men of the Command including the stakeholders of his commitment ‘‘to building on the achievements recorded by the Command, sustaining the high standards established by DC. Adigun in contributing to the continued progress of the Command.
Actng Controller, may have been encouraged by what he had met on ground at KLT, that he has pledged ‘‘to provide purposeful leadership in advancing the interests of the NCS, and the operational objectives of KLT Command.
It would be recalled that in their respective goodwill remarks to welcome DC. Akanni, to his new office at KLT, the leadership of The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, had commended the outgoing acting Area Controller of the KLT, ‘‘for his leadership, accessibility and cordial relationship with the trading public.
were said ‘‘to have pledged their ongoing cooperation and support’’ for the incoming KLT, acting new Controller, expressing optimism about a conducive working relationship with the new leadership to succeed in his plans.
The KLT, new Customs Chief, may have put smiles on the faces on the faces of the officers and men of the Command, including the importers with their agents and the government agencies and terminal operators when he had had ‘‘renewed his commitment, with emphasis on continuity, institutional stability and the collective pursuit of the Service’s mandate’’.
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