The ‘Present-Continuous’ Coming of Wale Adeniyi

By Okey Ikechukwu

Our task in today’s engagement on this page is to say three things essentially. The first is that the current Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Dr Bashir Adewale Adeniyi (MFR) has shown exemplary leadership, innovative policy initiatives and unmistakable capacity for global competitiveness. The second is that he stands forth today as a professional who understood a system, grew through the ranks in it, and deliberately set out to honestly reinvent and upgrade it. Finally Adeniyi can be described as one of our best in public service today, by any standards; and one whose tenure extension is well-deserved.

It is most probably because he is accomplished at home and recognized by his proven capacity to lead customs service globally that he got the further months tenure extension announced by the Presidency about a week ago. This marked the third intervention of tenure for the man. His tenure, which was due to expire on August 31, 2025, was extended by one year. That was in July, last year. Then, as mentioned earlier, the President granted yet another six-month tenure extension for him, until February 2027.

Adeniyi is currently the Chairperson of the World Customs Organization (WCO). He is expected to use this new extension to fully consolidate ongoing reforms and complete some critical, sector-defining initiatives of his administration. The ongoing modernisation of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), for instance, is so fundamental and so far gone in detailed execution that putting it under the possible risk of derailment via a leadership transition at a time of political gymnastics and electoral contestations seems unwise.

The story is most probably the same for the implementation of the National Single Window Project and the execution of Nigeria’s obligations under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) protocol. Thus, the extension can easily be seen as the president’ recognition of the CG’s focus, broad and exemplary understanding of the sector and his steadfast commitment to redefining a sector he knows very well and is creatively remodeling.

The expectation is that the extension will further strengthen the NCS in stabilizing most of the commendable initiatives under Adeniyi and further driving the strategic mandates of trade facilitation, revenue generation, and border security. The desire to allow the CG entrench and drill down these  key reforms and other endeavours designed to streamline cargo clearance processes, improve revenue collection and enhance the ease of doing business in Nigeria is founded on the rigour and tenacity with which he has pursued everything he set his mind to since becoming the CG.

He has been working closely with the NCS Board in overseeing the promotion of qualified officers to the rank of Comptrollers Customs, while also ensuring compliance with statutory retirement provisions. This process is particularly attentive to the imperative of merit-based elevation since he assumed office as CG.

The compulsory retirement of officers who had reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 years or have completed 35 years in service has not created any problems throughout his tenure.

When, and after, he was appointed Comptroller, and later Deputy Commandant of the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, some observers noted with satisfaction his record of service before the promotion and appointment, as well as his record of performance thereafter. Take, for instance, what happened when, as Assistant Comptroller General in February 2020, he superintended the seizure of $8.07 million. This was raw cash being illegally taken out of Nigeria through the E-Wing of the international airport tarmac.

Adeniyi could easily have asked for a cut and made a deal with the criminals. He did not. He would most probably not be CG, or Customs boss of the world, today if he had accepted a bribe, looked the other way and walked home with his loot. He stood his ground, carried out his duties, did not put on any airs thereafter and simply went about his duties like everyone else.

As a graduate of International Relations, he went ahead to give a good account of himself as image maker of NCS. I first met him during a capacity building programme we organized for NCS management over a decade ago. He was always neatly turned out, simple in mannerisms, organized, and only took notes whenever something struck him in the course of any presentation. I recall pointing out to my colleague during the lunch break that a particular Participant (Adeniyi) was a possible future CG of NCS. We talked about it for a while, I shared my reasons, responded to the issues he raised and rested the matter. Adeniyi later got to know this aftet his emergence as CG. The rest is history.

With a 30-year career span at NCS, Dr. Adeniyi’s milestones and his leadership vision for reforming the Service make a compelling case for his extension. He operated as an insider who knew the system. The achievements he recorded in just two years, how he rose through the ranks, and his, sometimes exceptionally innovative interventions could only be accomplished by someone who grew to maturity in the system whose problems knewso well.

His appointment as CG apparently coincided with the implementation of the new NCS Act, which provides that only a serving Customs officer from the rank of an Assistant Comptroller General can become a Comptroller General. Adeniyi has turned out to be the first lucky beneficiary, and also the midwife for 5he entrenchment, of this Act. From when he became Acting CG to his confirmation as substantive CG, the NCS saw significant strides in trade facilitation, revenue upsurge, improved security, enhanced staff welfare and other Key Performance Indicators.

The ports were shorn of cargo congestion as soon as he tuned up. The repeatedly bemoaned traumatic experiences of maritime stakeholders who often recall with tears the grind of clearing of goods became a thing of the past. He did not confront port congestion head-on by making a motivational speech, or announcing a 3, 4 or 21 one-point agenda, no!

He simply stepped forward with a template he had thought through, inaugurated a committee to dispose of overtime cargo from the ports and, forthwith, had terminals that had long been burdened with longstanding cargo decongested. He did not just issue instructions and address a conference, but saw to it that what needed to be done was actually done.

These were his words to the aforementioned committee on overtime cargoes: “The disposal of cargo exceeding its allotted time can now only occur through a court order, and through public auction or tender, which will be widely publicized through national newspapers, television, and the service’s official website”. He is the only CG I know that has received the greatest criticism from acquittances, friends and associates, for being “very unreasonable” and always refusing to arbitrarily give out seized vehicles and good “in the exercise of his powers”.

To complement the existing Automated Systems for Customs Data (ASYCUDA), which protects the country by combating fraud and illegal trafficking of prohibited and restricted goods, Adeniyi introduced the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Programme. The time-release study to enhance the efficiency of the service, in addition to providing statistical information on foreign trade transactions, enhances  customs’ revenue earnings.

The pilot phase of the AEO programme demonstrated significant improvements in cargo clearance times, with AEO-certified companies achieving an average release time of 43 hours, five full hours ahead of the target clearance time of 48 hours. The authorities cheerfully announced, thereafter, that “This represents a remarkable 66.9% reduction in cargo clearance time compared to pre-AEO status, where clearance took five days, and notably outperforms regular Economic Operators (EOs) who require seven days for clearance”.

Adeniyi saw beyond this limited but very significant achievement and once said: “Our comprehensive time-release study has been concluded, and the report is currently under review with plans for release before the second quarter of the year. Additionally, our enhanced strategic partnerships with various customs administrations worldwide are yielding tangible results through intelligence sharing, leading to major interceptions at our ports. These partnerships have also opened up capacity-building opportunities for our officers and laid the groundwork for expanded engagements in the coming months”.

Concerning trade facilitation, which is core mandates of the Service, Adeniyi’s tenure saw processed imports with a Cost, Insurance, and Freight (CIF) value of ₦60.29 trillion in 2024, which was an impressive 117.4% increase, from the ₦27.74 trillion the year before. The details revealed 1,262,988 import transactions, handling a total mass of 15.35 billion kilograms. It also showed a export trade performance with the total CIF value skyrocketing to ₦136.65 trillion in 2024, as against ₦42.77 trillion in 2023. Many found this benumbing 219.5% increase totally incomprehensible. “How was this possible”? Some asked.

It is interesting that, for the period under review at a point in his ongoing tenure, the number of export transactions remained relatively stable at 38,199, when compared to 38,294 in 2023. What changed was a dramatic increase in export volume. While 12.35 billion kilograms were processed in 2024, to 3.70 billion kilograms in 2023; representing a 234% increase in export mass. Evidence of accruing high revenue was also evidence of growth in our export trade, as well as the increasing competitiveness of Nigerian products in the international market.

Considering that the total trade value handled by the NCS in 2024 was ₦196.94 trillion, as against the ₦70.50 trillion in 2023, this 179.3% increase or growth in trade value, achieved with fewer but more valuable transactions, we can understand why the CG used these indices as basis for his statement that it is now possible for us to speak today of “…some degree of increasing sophistication of Nigeria’s international trade and the effectiveness of our trade facilitation measures”.

Then there is the B’Odogwu, the NCS indigenously developed customs clearance platform with the support of Customs’ concessionaires under the Trade Modernization Project. Indigenously developed? Yes! A platform processing transactions resulting in an aggregate revenue collection of ₦31 billion as of December 2024? Yes! Evidence of how homegrown solutions are gradually enhancing our operational efficiency and ensuring seamless trade facilitation? Yes! All under Adeniyi.

In the area of revenue collection, the year 2022 saw the service crossing the ₦2 trillion revenue threshold, netting ₦2.6 trillion. It moved up to ₦3.2 trillion in 2023 and, by 2024, ballooned all the way to ₦6.1 trillion, above its targeted revenue of ₦5.07 trillion by 20.2%. It is interesting to note that the increase in 2024 revenue collections was achieved despite significant concessions, totalling ₦1.68 trillion, granted to support various sectors of the economy.

And this was done and achieved through enhanced monitoring mechanisms and strategic reforms, designed to block loopholes and eliminate abuses in the concession granting process. This ensured that only genuine and truly eligible enterprises benefited from the declared and granted incentives.

We could go on to talk about the many, more recent acheivements, gains in smstaff welfare, recognition and reward for exceptional service, celebration of excellence and general motivation of a now-seriously-high-performing workforce under Adeniyi. But there is no need for that, because it will all detract from the actual purpose of this write-up. You can get the records from NCS.

Anyone who means well for Nigeria should keep an eye on Dr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, for future high profile leadership roles, preferably with international flavour; after his stint at NCS.