The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions has summoned the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, to appear before it on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, over the refusal of some senior officials to retire after their due retirement dates.
The summon was sequel to a petition by the Obasi-Pherson Help Foundation, saying some Assistant Comptrollers and Comptrollers who were due for retirement but had stayed put in the service.
The Head of Media, House Committee on Public Petitions, Chooks Oko, identified the officers as Imam, Umar, and Egwu, all Assistant Comptrollers, and Awe, Fatia, and Faith, all Comptrollers.
Oko said the Comptroller General has a duty 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 another 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, for failing 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 accused the NIMC of breach of the licence agreement, adding that 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 recover its fund through service providers’ patronage, and 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.
The company said operations proceeded smoothly until the appointment of the new NIMC Director General, whom it accused of attempting to terminate the agreement.
Etaba lampooned the continued absence of the NIMC Director General despite several invitations, and warned that “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 behavior.”
