A senior Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) officer, Deputy Comptroller Etop Andrew Essien, collapsed and died during a presentation before the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday.
Essien, who was in charge of the Revenue Account Unit at NCS, was part of a team of customs officers appearing before the committee to discuss remittances to the federation account. Just minutes into his testimony, Essien requested a glass of water, saying, “Sir, I may need to take water.”
The committee chairman, Rep. Bamidele Salam, immediately obliged and asked someone to provide Essien with tea or water. However, shortly after making the request, Essien suddenly collapsed and was rushed to the House of Representatives Clinic, where he was pronounced dead.
The 54-year-old Essien, who hailed from Nsit-Ubium Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State, had joined the Nigerian Customs Service in 1989 and had served the agency for over three decades.
Prior to his unexpected demise, Essien had been discussing the customs service’s revenue remittances to the federation account. He had argued that the money had been sent to the appropriate account provided by the Accountant-General’s office, but for reasons unknown, it had not been transferred to the federation account.
