In life, there are those who are born leaders. There are also those who have leadership positions handed over to them. And yet, those who got groomed for leadership roles. Customs Comptroller General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, does not fall into the first category, neither is he in the class of those who had leadership position thrown at him. Those who have monitored his meteoric and outstanding career progression in the Nigeria Customs Service would agree with me that Wale Adeniyi, as he is fondly called by his friends, did not just get to the peak of the service by any stroke of luck. He worked for it. He merited it.
As a young officer, he was a toast of his bosses, due essentially to his ability to deliver, and promptly too. Other than being a fast learner, his humane and humble disposition also endeared him to his superiors. His intelligence and knack for details is also legendary. There are about five leadership styles commonly adopted globally by renowned leaders. They are the authoritarians, delegative, transactional and of course the transformational leaders. Wale Adeniyi falls into the class of transformational leaders.
Leaders who like to set out the goals, lay them bare with timelines for achieving such targets, combined with an effective feedback mechanism which helps officers to fall in line, when they are perceived to be derailing.
His innovative skills and ability to pick the right caliber of personnel that best equipped to carry out specific functions or assignments stand him out in the leadership ladder. His modus operandi, succinctly put, are in tandem with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is determined to change the narrative in governance.
Speaking last December at the Comptroller General’s Conference, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu commended the efforts of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi for repositioning the Nigeria Customs Service towards greater productivity and increased revenue generation. He praised Adeniyi’s leadership in driving significant reforms that align with his administration’s broader economic objectives.
Year 2025 ended on a very bright note for the Nigeria Customs Service with an unprecedented revenue boom in revenue generation. With a projected N5.079 trillion, the Service realized a staggering N5.79 trillion and with an indication that it might cross N6 trillion threshold in 2025. In terms of anti-smuggling operations, the Onne Command of the Service made seizure of arms and ammunition running into billions of naira.
At the global stage, more acolades are pouring in for Wale Adeniyi’s administration. The CGC has also not played politics with the welfare of officers as deserving officers have earned their promotions as at when due, contrary to what was the practice during the past administration.
The Service is about to recruit about 4,000 officers to make up for the shortfall in personnel, mainly through retirements. In all, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi has, in many ways, surpassed every single record he met on ground. From the forgoing, it would not be a misnomer to bestow on Bashir Adewale Adeniyi THE GLOBAL AMBASSADOR OF THE RENEWED HOPE AGENDA for an OUTSTANDING and innovative performance as the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service.