Bashir Adewale Adeniyi is currently the Acting  Comptroller General of Customs (CGC). His appointment was announced on Monday, 19 June 2023, while he was attending the Policy Commission and Council meetings of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) in Brussels, Belgium.

Many have commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for some of his appointments so far, but the appointment of Adeniyi as the CGC should rank as one of the best and most fitting. And this has nothing to do with Federal Character or the much-abused quota system. The reason has all to do with competence, capacity, integrity, knowhow, people skill, experience and relatability.

Adeniyi comes to his new beat with a wide berth of experience. Those of us in the media have not forgotten his sterling performance as chief image-maker of the Nigeria Customs Service. A Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (FNIPR), and member of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), Adeniyi is a perfect cut for the job. He was at a time the Public Relations Officer of the Customs, speaking for the whole Customs establishment. Under his belt as the chief brand builder of the Customs, the Service enjoyed the most robust media and public relations. He was simply called Wale by journalists. Back then, “call Wale”, “have you called Wale?”, were the mantra. Then, it was easy to call Wale to confirm a story; report a matter or simply to hear from the side of the Customs in the spirit of fair hearing. And each time you called Wale, he answered. He states the Customs’ perspective of a story with clarity and uncommon confidence, something lacking in most public sector image makers these days. As CEO of the Customs, he must do well to re-enact that era of healthy relationship with the media.

No debate. The Customs has had a long history of controversy and reputational challenge. To some persons, it’s a nest of corruption. But this is not peculiar to Nigeria. Worldwide, the Customs or workers associated with imports, tariff, duties and taxes are usually thought to be corrupt. Zacchaeus, the aristocratic dwarf and Matthew, the Apostle, in the Bible are examples. Both men were tax collectors, equivalent of today’s Customs officers or taxmen. They were perceived as corrupt men and just too unclean for Master Jesus. In fact, the people were outraged that Jesus, with all his holiness, could be associated with both men. That says so much about duties and tax collectors. They are historically unloved by the people and in most cases tagged as corrupt.

To others, the Customs is a place where merit is sacrificed and where even the constitutionally prescribed Federal Character does not apply. To yet others, the Customs still harbours a splinter of men and women of integrity, persons committed to dignity of labour and the dictum of reward for hard work. This argument is helped by examples of Customs officers who shunned the dainties of bribery and corruption and elected to do their job professionally. Assistant Controller General (ACG) Bashir Abubakar who in 2018 rejected a humungous sum of $412,000 offered to him as a bribe by some unscrupulous Tramadol drug dealers. Sadly, the same Abubakar was dismissed from service in 2020 under very controversial circumstances. Perhaps, the new CGC may wish to revisit that matter now. Aside Abubakar, there had been other examples of Customs officers who walked the path of honour and integrity rather than slide into the miasma of filthy lucre.

The Acting CGC Adeniyi is one of them. As spokesman for the Customs, he manifested integrity and competence. He has kept a track record of integrity at his various stations within the Customs. This has earned him epaulets and several petals of honour.

In October 2022, he was conferred with the National Honour of Member of the Order of Federal Republic (MFR) by President Muhammadu. In January 2020, he was decorated with the Comptroller – General of Customs Award for seizure of $8,065,612  ($8.065 million) cash at Murtala Mohammed International Airport. This was cash he could easily have pocketed or shared with his team on duty.

In January, 2018, Adeniyi was garlanded with the World Customs Organisation Award of Excellence as Project Team Leader, Securité Par Collaboration (SPC++), a Customs Regional Security Project, for his exemplary leadership that shepherded his team on the hallway of integrity.

Obviously, Adeniyi wears a badge of integrity in a country where integrity in public service is scarce. The Customs still has men and women of such character. The new CGC should identify them, give them more responsibilities and reward them openly. He should institute a culture of openness, operational efficiency, national interest above self-interest and integrity above primitive larceny.

Put simply, Adeniyi should identify his kind still in service, recruit his kind and lead the Service from the front. Meaning, he should lead by example. The things he did that made him win both local and international awards all of them verging on integrity are the things he must encourage his lieutenants to do.

He should strive to restore the 7Cs in the Customs, namely: Courtesy without loss of dignity; Clear Questions; Careful Examinations; Clean House in all Respects; Command Attention; Control and Consult Colleagues.

Nigeria has two major revenue collection agencies: the FIRS and the Customs. In 2022, the FIRS collected N10.1 trillion in revenue while the Customs collected N2.60 trillion revenue. Though both figures were better than revenues collected the previous year, they still fall below expectation due largely to poor automation of processes and systemic corruption.

Adeniyi should rally his team to do better under his watch. To achieve this, he must monitor the activities of his officers. He must bring his influence and character of integrity to bear on his team. He must deliberately shoo out of the system those whose forte is greed and graft. He must be intentional with his actions: to promote transparency and eliminate opacity and corruption. May it be said that under him, the Customs collected the highest volume of revenue; eased import and export processes and reduced very significantly cases of smuggling.

He’s got his job cut out: To lead the Customs to a higher pedestal as a respected revenue collection agency where issues of greed, corruption and intentional collusion with smugglers by officers are drastically reduced. In these times of little earnings from crude export, Nigeria needs the Customs to bring home more cash. Nigeria needs Adeniyi to switch on his mojo of efficiency. He did it as spokesman. He can do it again as Team Lead of the Nigeria Customs Service.

Author: KEN UGBECHIE

First published in Sunday Sun