By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief, and Gabriel Ewepu
ABUJA — The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced the enlistment of 3,852 candidates out of the 573,680 applicants who applied for positions in its 2024 recruitment exercise.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this on Tuesday during a press conference in Abuja, where he announced the release of the final list of successful candidates.
Adeniyi also announced that the Service would henceforth conduct recruitment exercises annually to ensure a predictable and transparent process.
He said: “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.”
The Customs boss explained that the recruitment timeline was extended due to the unusually high number of applications received and other administrative challenges.
According to him, the Service received 573,680 applications for 3,852 available positions, making it one of the most competitive recruitment exercises undertaken by the agency.
He added that the Service also experienced a high rate of retirements among senior and management officers, which placed additional pressure on its administrative capacity.
Adeniyi said the prolonged process was necessary to ensure that only qualified candidates emerged, adding that successful applicants passed through several stages, including application screening, computer-based examinations and verification of credentials against the national identity database.
He disclosed that successful candidates would proceed to physical and medical assessments, followed by final review at the Board level.
“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.
He acknowledged the disappointment of applicants who were not shortlisted, saying the large number of applications made the selection highly competitive.
“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.
The Comptroller-General encouraged unsuccessful applicants to remain connected with the Service and apply in future recruitment exercises, noting that the next opportunity would come sooner under the new annual recruitment arrangement.
On geographical distribution, Adeniyi said all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were represented on the final list.
He explained that allocations were made equally among states, with each state receiving an identical number of slots in each cadre.
According to him, the North-West received 735 slots, while the North-Central received 702 slots, including the FCT. The North-East, South-South and South-West each received 630 slots, while the South-East received 525 slots.
Adeniyi said the move to an annual recruitment cycle would replace the previous practice of conducting exercises intermittently, making the process more consistent and predictable.
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