ABUJA — 20 October 2026. President Bola Tinubu has approved 18-month tenure extensions for Kemi Nanna Nandap, head of the Nigeria Immigration Service, and Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, head of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
The State House announcement dated 19 October sets Nandap’s new end date at 30 June 2028 and Nwakuche’s at 26 May 2028. Both remain in their existing posts under the approval.
Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo recommended the extensions. The Presidency said the decision would address succession gaps and give the board time to appoint successors.
What changed for Nandap and Nwakuche? President Bola Tinubu approved 18-month extensions for the two serving agency heads. Kemi Nandap’s immigration tenure now ends on 30 June 2028, while Sylvester Nwakuche’s correctional service tenure ends on 26 May 2028. The Presidency linked the decision to succession planning in both services.
Two different end dates
Premium Times published the presidential release on 20 October, reproducing the separate expiry dates. The approval concerns the Comptroller-General of Immigration and the Controller-General of the Correctional Service, two distinct offices with different responsibilities.
For readers following the appointments, the immediate consequence is continuity at the top of both agencies. The additional time has a stated succession purpose: preparing for replacement leadership while the incumbents continue serving.
Tinubu also praised the reforms undertaken under both officials and asked them to build on those gains. That assessment is the President’s stated position on their leadership.
Nandap had already received an extension
The immigration chief’s tenure had previously been extended. A State House statement issued on 31 March 2025 kept her in office through 31 December 2026.
AFRICAN POLITICS
Tinubu Extends Nandap and Nwakuche’s Tenures to 2028
Oct 20, 2026
Oct 20, 2026
5 min read
Published
Updated:
ABUJA — 20 October 2026. President Bola Tinubu has approved 18-month tenure extensions for Kemi Nanna Nandap, head of the Nigeria Immigration Service, and Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, head of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
The State House announcement dated 19 October sets Nandap’s new end date at 30 June 2028 and Nwakuche’s at 26 May 2028. Both remain in their existing posts under the approval.
Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo recommended the extensions. The Presidency said the decision would address succession gaps and give the board time to appoint successors.
What changed for Nandap and Nwakuche? President Bola Tinubu approved 18-month extensions for the two serving agency heads. Kemi Nandap’s immigration tenure now ends on 30 June 2028, while Sylvester Nwakuche’s correctional service tenure ends on 26 May 2028. The Presidency linked the decision to succession planning in both services.
Two different end dates
Premium Times published the presidential release on 20 October, reproducing the separate expiry dates. The approval concerns the Comptroller-General of Immigration and the Controller-General of the Correctional Service, two distinct offices with different responsibilities.
For readers following the appointments, the immediate consequence is continuity at the top of both agencies. The additional time has a stated succession purpose: preparing for replacement leadership while the incumbents continue serving.
Tinubu also praised the reforms undertaken under both officials and asked them to build on those gains. That assessment is the President’s stated position on their leadership.
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Nandap had already received an extension
The immigration chief’s tenure had previously been extended. A State House statement issued on 31 March 2025 kept her in office through 31 December 2026.
That earlier announcement said Nandap began her Immigration Service career on 9 October 1989. It recorded her appointment as Comptroller-General from 1 March 2024, initially to serve until 31 August 2025.
The October 2026 approval therefore changes an already revised timetable. For Nandap, the new June 2028 endpoint follows the December 2026 date established by the earlier extension. These successive announcements explain why older accounts of her expected departure may give a different year.
Her agency’s public-facing work includes passport administration and immigration services. Readers seeking practical information can consult XTRAfrica’s guides to applying for a Nigerian passport and checking a passport application’s status. The leadership announcement itself concerns the duration of her service in office.
Nwakuche’s path from acting head to confirmed chief
Nwakuche first took over in an acting capacity following Haliru Nababa’s departure. A December 2024 report by the News Agency of Nigeria, carried by BusinessDay, quoted the board’s secretary, Ja’afaru Ahmed, as saying the appointment would take effect on 15 December.
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Before that appointment, he was deputy controller-general responsible for training and staff development. The role placed him within the service’s senior leadership before he became its acting head.
The Senate subsequently confirmed him as substantive Controller-General on 25 March 2025. Channels Television’s contemporary report described lawmakers’ adoption of the Interior Committee’s recommendation, presented by Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
At the confirmation, Senate President Godswill Akpabio tasked Nwakuche with improving security at correctional facilities. That earlier parliamentary scrutiny provides context for the responsibility he continues to hold under the new extension.
The announcement sits within a wider reform programme
Nairametrics’ coverage of the extension places the decision alongside work on immigration processing, border management and correctional administration.
Its account lists visa, work-permit, residence-permit and passport processes among the immigration reform areas. For corrections, it identifies alternatives to imprisonment where appropriate and relocation of overcrowded urban facilities among the initiatives being pursued.
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These are the service areas in which continuity of leadership has practical significance. Nigerians encounter immigration administration through travel documents and residency processes; correctional leadership concerns the management and security of custodial institutions and other correctional responsibilities.
The extensions give the incumbents more time in office. The performance of those services remains a separate question from the approval of longer tenures.
What follows the extensions
The Presidency has tied the additional time to the appointment of successors. Future announcements from the Presidency, Interior Ministry and relevant board will establish who takes over and the terms of any handover.
For now, the confirmed position is that the current chiefs have presidential approval to continue under the revised timetable. Nwakuche’s end date comes in May 2028, followed by Nandap’s in June. Succession arrangements are the next institutional step to follow.
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