Nigeria Customs Announces Final Recruitment List, Says Exercises Will Now Hold Annually

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has released the final list of successful candidates for its 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, confirming that 3,852 applicants have been selected from a pool of 573,680 applications.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Comptroller-General of Customs Adewale Adeniyi said the Service would now adopt an annual recruitment cycle to promote transparency and provide aspiring applicants with regular opportunities.

“I am pleased to announce the release of the final list of successful candidates of the 2024/2025 Recruitment Exercise of the Nigeria Customs Service.

“A total of 3,852 candidates have been offered places across the entry cadres: 1,275 in the Superintendent Cadre, 367 in the Inspectorate Cadre, and 2,210 in the Customs Assistant Cadre. This is the final list, and it concludes the exercise that opened in December 2024,” he stated.

Adeniyi explained that the exercise lasted longer than anticipated because of the exceptionally high number of applications and administrative demands.

He said the Service received 573,680 applications for only 3,852 vacancies, describing the recruitment as one of the most competitive in the agency’s history. He also noted that the retirement of many senior officers increased pressure on the administrative process.

According to him, applicants went through multiple stages, including document screening, computer-based examinations and verification of credentials using the national identity database before the final shortlist was compiled.

Successful candidates will now proceed to physical and medical screening before the Customs Board concludes the recruitment process.

“An exercise of this scale, in a country of this size, attracts interest from many quarters. What I can tell you is that the list I place before you today is one I am prepared to defend on its merits,” Adeniyi said.

The Comptroller-General appealed to unsuccessful applicants not to lose hope.

“The over 560,000 Nigerians whose names are not on the list were not rejected; you were unlucky in a field of extraordinary competition. Many of you met every requirement the Service set. There were simply not enough places,” he said.

He added that the introduction of annual recruitment would provide qualified Nigerians with more frequent opportunities to join the Service.

Adeniyi further disclosed that successful candidates were selected from every state of the federation and the FCT through an equal allocation system. The North-West received 735 slots, the North-Central 702, while the North-East, South-South and South-West each received 630 slots. The South-East received 525 slots.

He said the new annual recruitment policy would replace the previous intermittent system, making the exercise more structured and predictable.

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