*Mgt Allegedly Drops Push For Service Years Extension
*Begins Equipping New-Generation Officers For Imminent Take Over
Tension appears to be easing out over the Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS) leadership transition suspense, as most recent events signal the decision of the retiring management team to bequeath leadership of the Service to the youthful new-generation officers despite rumours of lobbying to obtain extension of their service years
By Our Correspondent
At last, there is tacit confirmation that the old-generation senior officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), including those who occupy the management position, have unanimously accepted to retire in droves between now and the end of September 2026 in order to give way for the new-generation officers to take over the mantle of leadership of the Service from January 2027.
Even though the NCS management position which is the highest decision and policy-making organ of the country’s Customs is currently occupied by the Comptroller General (CGC), Deputy Comptrollers General (DCGs) and Assistant Comptrollers General ACGs) is yet to make an official statement on the decision, Tentacle’s reliable investigation revealed that certain recent happenings in the revenue generating agency indicate that the current management of the NCS which is alleged to be expecting an extension of years of service for the ranks of Comptrollers, ACGs and DCGs because the new-generation officers are alleged not to have acquired the requisite experience to take full charge of the NCS, will not hesitate to hand over the mantle of leadership to their children-officers and successors in a peaceful and seamless manner that would see the former retire with honour and respect from the new-generation officers.
One of such happenings is the recent retirement of two powerful members of the Customs management team currently led by Dr. Adewale Adeniyi. DCGs Mohammed Jibo and Dera Nnadi bowed out of the Service in a manner that surprised and also excited many watchers of the NCS events. While Jibo bade goodbye to the Service last year, Nnadi exited in the first quarter of 2026.
Both top shots of the Service were regarded as among the best eggheads the NCS has produced, and they were so influential and very close to the CGC that it was expected by many watchers of customs events that Adeniyi would back them in securing the Customs Board and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s endorsement of the quest for the extension of their years of service by one or two years.
Adeniyi, the incumbent CGC, was granted one year extension of his years of service by President Tinubu probably on the basis of his occupation of the Chairmanship position of the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) Council which he would occupy for a period of one year. Hence, not a few stakeholders had expected an extension for Jibo and Nnadi since such favour had been done to some of their colleagues under the Adeniyi administration. By virtue of the extension, Adeniyi is expected to bow out of the Service in August, 2026.
The leadership gap in the NCS which almost snowballed into a crisis was orchestrated by the many years, between 1994 and 2008, when there were no recruitments into the Service till 2009 when the first batch of the new-generation officers were recruited. This inexplicable anomaly created a huge vacuum for the Customs management to fill. While the old-generation officers would be exiting the Service in the nearest future, the new-generation officers, even with the rapid promotion they got as a result, have not attained the management ranks of ACGs and DCGs to qualify them to occupy the management position. The highest rank worn by these new breed of officers who joined the NCS between 2009 and 2012 is the Deputy Comptroller (DC) rank. They need to get promoted to the ranks of Comptroller, ACG and DCG.
The shortcoming led to the old officers branding these youthful new-generation officers as inexperienced to manage the affairs of the NCS, which orchestrated the quest by the old-generation officers, especially the ranks of Comptrollers, ACGs and DCGs, to begin, allegedly, to request from the Federal Government the extension of their years of service pending the gradual rise of the new officers to the management ranks.
However, last year, in another surprising move, the management began to test the managerial abilities and leadership capabilities of some of the new-generation DCs by posting them to manage some grade A Commands as Area Controllers (CACs), as well as to some strategic Units at the Customs Headquarters, Abuja. Some of the Commands where new-generation officers sit as CACs include the Idiroko Border Command in Ogun State, the Kiri-Kiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) in Lagos and the Kano- Jigawa Area Command in the North west where the DCs are said to be performing credibly to the admiration of the management. The gesture, many stakeholders agreed, indicated that before the end of the year, many new-generation DCs would be promoted to Comptroller rank to equip and qualify them to be promoted further to the management ranks of ACGs and DCGs.
Another significant event which has also signposted that the Adeniyi-led management may have concluded to jettison the idea of seeking service extension and is ready to bequeath leadership to their young subordinates, took place early in the year between Monday February 23 and Friday February 27, 2026 in Abuja where the management gave another tacit endorsement of the new-generation officers to succeed them before the end of 2026. Recall that the last recruitment exercise in the NCS before 2009 took place in 1994 when some youths who represented the agency in sporting events were coopted into the Service and later converted to general-duty operatives. As the old-generation officers would be retiring till September 2026, investigation revealed that only about 15 of these sporting officers would be left of the old-generation officers in the Service, and they are not considered ably qualified for management position, especially as one of them, Comptroller Haniel Hadison allegedly messed up the Customs auction sales last year.
Comptroller Hadison who was assigned to handle the auction sales as the Comptroller Special Duties at the headquarters, allegedly used the office to defraud unsuspecting citizens who applied for overtime cargoes, thereby illicitly enriching himself to the detriment of his victims. Hadison had since been punitively transferred to the Command and Staff College in Gwagwalada, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), while the Customs management has launched investigation into the saga so as to compensate the victims and sanitise the system.
Inside sources hinted that the offences committed by Comptroller Hadison in the course of the overtime cargo auction, especially the allegation that he sold single auction papers to multiple victims who could not locate the cargoes when they went to take delivery, amounted to outright dismissal from the Service and handing over to the EFCC for investigation and prosecution.
One credible source, however, disclosed that the management has set up an in-house panel to investigate the alleged thievery Hadison. On the surface, Hadison is said to be a fine officer who has served in many Units and Departments. Hence, he is said to be in a vantage position to have inherited the apex leadership position in the NCS. Unfortunately, it is alleged that he was haunted by indiscipline, greed and unquenchable appetite for the filthy lucre which pushed him to allegedly defraud the unsuspecting members of the public of billions of Naira and got himself fraudulently enriched.
Hadison’s alleged compromised performance as Comptroller Special Duties contrasted with the sterling performance of his predecessor in that office, now ACG Babatunde Olomu, who deployed accountability and integrity to handle Customs auction sales without stain or compromise.
By the end of 2026, Haddison, one of the sports persons recruited in 1994, would become the oldest officer in the Service, but it is said in different quarters that his activities as the Comptroller Special Duties had rubbed mud on his leadership abilities.
The leadership training in Abuja last February, Tentacle gathered, lasted for a period of one week, and took place in batches A, B and C. The trainees were only DCs drawn from the 2009, 2011 and 2012 batches officers recruited. Investigation revealed that no old-generation DCs were invited to participate in the crucial training which aim was to induct the trainees into the national leadership circle of the NCS in order to prepare them to inherit the Service’s management cadre. The exclusion of the old DCs implied also that they would have no part in the new management that may be installed between late 2026 and early 2027.
Investigation also revealed that the new-generation DCs went through tutelage in three cardinal areas of customs operation which included, “Team Building and Team Spirit”. Recall that one of the reasons advanced by the senior old-generation officers for demanding service extension was that the young officers, being of the same age bracket and recruited within the same period of time, would not have mutual respect for one another. That there would be mutual suspicion, lack of proper regard to seniority and insubordination among the youthful officers which would result in leadership crisis.
But their last training in team building and team spirit is expected to expose the DCs to tolerance, accommodating one another and respecting one another’s individual differences, aspirations and affiliations.
The youthful officers also received training in “Pragmatic Leadership” which would guide them in handling broader administrative responsibilities when they are promoted to Comptroller rank and above.
Other areas they received training were in “Trade Facilitation” and “Balance of Trade” between trade facilitation, revenue collection and security.
The recent Gwagwalada training is the second of its type in the preparation for the leadership takeover by the new-generation. Recall that in November 2025, the NCS management had taken out two days to allegedly reassure the senior officers of the new-generation that there should not be any rancour within the Service due to the alleged quest by the management officers and Comptrollers to secure service extension.
At the time, there was silent agitation against the management of the NCS for wanting to remain in the Service beyond their retirement dates. So, during the occasion of “The Customs PACT” (Partnership For Cooperation in Trade), a forum of the Heads of Customs Administration of the West African subregion which lasted for three days, it was gathered that the NCS management had taken another two days to address the concerns of the new-generation officers on the issues of leadership succession. Those were the two days that followed The Customs PACT meeting.
Efforts were made to contact the National Public Relations Officer (NPRO) of the NCS, a new-generation senior officer, DC Abdulahi Maiwada. But calls made to his phone lines were not connecting at the time of filing this report.
