Reps summon customs boss over senior officers’ refusal to retire

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions on Wednesday invited the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, to appear before it on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, over the failure of some senior officials to retire after reaching their due retirement dates.

This followed the consideration of a petition by the Obasi-Pherson Help Foundation, alleging that some Assistant Comptrollers and Comptrollers were due for retirement but had blatantly refused to leave the service.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the Head of Media, House Committee on Public Petitions, Chooks Oko, named the concerned officers as Imam, Umar, and Egwu, all Assistant Comptrollers, and Awe, Fatia, and Faith, all Comptrollers.

Issuing the summons, the Committee noted that the Comptroller General has a duty as a public officer to clarify the situation to Nigerians.

“Nigerians deserve to know the truth of the matter, and only the CG can clarify the situation. We are elected to serve the people and ensure that all government agencies function effectively as part of that service.

“In this era, when most of our youths are seeking employment, it is unfair for those due for retirement to refuse to leave,” the Chairman of the Committee on Public Petitions, Mike Etaba, was quoted as saying.

“That is not to say we shall take sides—far from it. We treat each case on merit, ensuring that justice is served at all times to those who deserve it,” he added.

In a related development, the Committee has threatened to order the
arrest of the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote, if she fails to appear in person to respond to allegations of refusing to pay for a state-of-the-art software development project installed and deployed for the commission by a private firm, Truid Limited.

Truid Limited, in a petition to the Committee, alleged a breach of the licence agreement by NIMC.

According to Opara, counsel to Truid Limited, the agreement was based on an arrangement whereby Truid Limited funded, developed, and deployed a tokenisation system without any financial obligation from NIMC.

Truid was to recoup its investment through service providers’ patronage, with proceeds shared on an agreed ratio. This arrangement was to run for an initial period of ten years from 2021, when the software was deployed.

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According to the petition, operations proceeded smoothly until the appointment of the new NIMC Director General, who is allegedly attempting to terminate the agreement.

Reacting to submissions from the counsels of both the petitioners and respondents, Etaba criticised the continued absence of the NIMC Director General despite several invitations.

“If she fails to appear at the next hearing, we will have no option but to direct the Inspector General of Police to compel her attendance. How can a government official treat a constituted authority with such levity? We will no longer condone such behaviour,” Etaba warned.