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LAGOS – A looming leadership vacuum at the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), arising from the scheduled retirement of virtually all members of its current Management Team before the end of the year, has triggered fresh calls for presidential intervention to safeguard the Service’s stability and sustain its ongoing reforms.
The recent call is coming from former member of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdulmumini A. Ibrahim, who has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to approve a strategic extension of the tenure of the current Customs management.
The ex-lawmaker who represented Ankpa I Constituency, has also cautioned that the simultaneous exit of the Service’s top leadership could disrupt succession planning, erode institutional memory and affect operational efficiency.
In a statement issued at the weekend in Abuja, Ibrahim noted that while the next cadre of officers comprises experienced Deputy Comptrollers, many may not yet have acquired the level of exposure, leadership experience and career progression ordinarily required for appointment to the highest management positions under the Public Service Rules.
He stressed that the nation’s current public service framework places premium on competence, institutional experience and maturity in rank before officers assume strategic leadership responsibilities must be upheld in line with the President’s Renewed Hope vision for Nigeria.
“The simultaneous retirement of virtually the entire management team has the potential to weaken institutional memory, disrupt ongoing modernization programmes and affect operational effectiveness within one of Nigeria’s most strategic security and revenue-generating agencies,” he said.
The former lawmaker also cautioned that the vacancies could pave the way for appointments from outside the Service, a move he said may undermine the long-standing tradition of professionalism and merit-based career progression within the Nigeria Customs Service.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has invested enormous resources in building a highly professional workforce with specialised expertise in customs administration.
“Appointing external personnel into positions traditionally occupied by career customs officers could negatively affect staff morale and weaken confidence in the Service’s career development structure,” Ibrahim stated.
He explained that the proposed tenure extension is not intended to impede the promotion of deserving officers but to provide a structured transition that would allow the next generation of senior officers to acquire the requisite experience and leadership maturity for higher responsibilities.
According to him, a temporary extension of the current management’s tenure would ensure continuity of leadership, preserve institutional memory, consolidate ongoing reforms, strengthen succession planning, maintain operational stability, reinforce confidence in the Service’s career structure and reduce the likelihood of external appointments into positions historically occupied by career customs officers.
“I respectfully appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give this proposal favourable consideration. A carefully managed transition through a limited service extension will not only protect the institutional integrity of the Nigeria Customs Service but also preserve the remarkable reforms and operational gains recorded under the present leadership while preparing the next generation of officers for seamless succession,” he said.
Ibrahim maintained that the proposed tenure extension represents a pragmatic institutional solution to guarantee stability, professionalism and continuity within the Nigeria Customs Service at a critical period in its history.