CUSTOMS CG, ADENIYII HONOURED BY NIJ, PROMISES TO BUILD MULTIMEDIA CENTER
Customs CG Adeniyi Honoured by NIJ, Promises to Build Multimedia Centre
By Babatunde Aremu
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service became the first alumnus of the NIJ to be conferred with its prestigious Fellowship, in a ceremony that drew senior media executives and public officials to Lagos on Wednesday
The conferment had the approval of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a detail that NIJ Governing Council Chairman Olusegun Osoba said underscored the national weight of the honour.
“Adeniyi is making history as the first past student of the NIJ to be conferred with this fellowship,” Osoba told the gathering. He traced Adeniyi’s path from a 1989 student of the institute to the head of Customs, calling it a story of “diligence, professionalism, and excellence” for young journalists and public servants to emulate.
The last recipient of the NIJ Fellowship was philanthropist Kessington Adebutu, Osoba noted.
For NIJ Provost Gbenga Adefaye, the award reflects Adeniyi’s record at Customs, where he has combined enforcement with trade facilitation through technology and stakeholder engagement.
Adeniyi, visibly moved, described the moment as “full circle.” He credited the institute for grounding him in professionalism and ethical conduct that later defined his public service career.
“This institution planted in me a set of values that I did not fully understand at the time, but which have guided me through every stage of my career,” he said.
Turning to students in the hall, he offered a charge: “The distance between the platform and the podium is shorter than you think.” Stay consistent, stay focused, he urged.
But the day’s other headline came with a pledge. Adeniyi announced he will personally fund a two-storey Multimedia Resource Centre for NIJ.
The centre will house modern training infrastructure for journalists and a fully equipped studio for NIJ Community Radio, based on the institute’s own needs assessment.
The fellowship and the project together mark a major lift for NIJ, reinforcing its place in shaping Nigeria’s next generation of media professionals.
