THE CUSTOMS Consultative Committee (CCC) has expressed concern over growing controversy on leadership succession in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), warning that politicisation threatened institutional stability and discipline.
The committee stated its position in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
The Secretary, Mr Eugene Nweke, said that discussions on the next Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) were increasingly driven by politics.
While noting that Nigerians were entitled to opinions on appointments, the CCC said it was destabilising for public office holders to suggest that succession in a disciplined institution was subject to political influence.
Nweke stressed that the NCS was not a political constituency but a statutory institution governed by law, procedures, hierarchy, and professional traditions developed over decades adding that leadership emergence should remained institutional, not political.
He expressed concern over some public office holders speaking authoritatively on matters within the President’s constitutional powers and NCS governance structures. Such actions could create uncertainty, undermine discipline, and erode morale among officers.
The CCC secretary said legislative oversight should not be mistaken for authority to influence, announce, or personalise appointments in agencies under supervision, oversight and administration were different functions, and blurring them breeds distrust.
He said that association condemned introducing regional, ethnic, and political narratives into succession matters that should be governed by merit, competence, integrity, and national interest adding that strategic institutions thrive only when appointments were seen as fair and transparent.
He noted that the NCS has a serving Comptroller General whose tenure was extended by the President to consolidate reforms, including the National Single Window project and succession management adding that stakeholders should allowed leadership to function without distraction.
He expressed the association stand cautioning against premature succession campaigns or speculative declarations creating
“Comptroller General-in-waiting” impression. Such narratives harm discipline, foster rivalries, weaken command structures, and create tension within the service, he said.
Nweke highlighted international implications, noting that Nigeria chairs the World Customs Organization (WCO) Council, the highest global customs decision-making body, so the country should exemplified integrity, professionalism, transparency, and good governance.
He observed that the global customs community monitors members, especially WCO leaders, perceptions of political interference could diminish confidence in NCS governance and project a negative image of Nigeria’s public administration standards.
Nweke said that the Nigeria’s WCO role offers opportunity to showcase best practices in succession management, institutional continuity, and administrative discipline.
“Avoidable controversies should not overshadow NCS progress in modernisation, trade facilitation, and international cooperation.
“The CCC called on political actors, public office holders, and stakeholders to exercise restraint and allow due process in succession matters.
“The Comptroller General’s office is too important to economic security and border management for speculation,” He said.
Nweke urged statesmanship over partisanship, institutional loyalty over personal loyalty, and constitutional order over grandstanding adding that NCS integrity would be preserved not by loud voices, but by commitment to due process and rule of law.
The CCC secretory said that the future of the NCS should be determined by law, competence, integrity, and national interest, not political influence or sectional considerations. The world is watching Nigeria’s transition process. (NAN)
