Customs Unveils Successful Candidates, Makes Recruitment an Annual Exercise

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has released the final list of successful candidates for its 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, with only 3,852 applicants emerging successful from a total of 573,680 applications.

The figure represents a success rate of just 0.67 per cent, meaning roughly one out of every 148 applicants secured a place.
Announcing the outcome in Abuja on Tuesday, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, described the exercise as one of the most competitive recruitment processes in the Service’s history. He also apologised for the delay in releasing the final list.
Adeniyi disclosed that the successful candidates were recruited across three entry cadres, comprising 1,275 for the Superintendent Cadre, 367 for the Inspectorate Cadre, and 2,210 for the Customs Assistant Cadre. He added that all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory were represented in the exercise.
According to him, every application passed through several stages of screening, including computer-based examinations and identity verification against the national database, stressing that maintaining the integrity of the recruitment process was more important than speed.
He explained that applicants whose records could not be immediately reconciled were subjected to additional verification before the final list received approval.
The Comptroller-General further revealed that all successful candidates would still undergo physical and medical examinations before obtaining final clearance from the Customs Board.
Adeniyi also announced a major policy shift, stating that recruitment into the Nigeria Customs Service would now become an annual exercise instead of being conducted occasionally. He said the next recruitment process would commence later this year and would be concluded within a single calendar year.
Addressing the more than 560,000 applicants who were unsuccessful, he urged them not to lose hope, noting that many met the required qualifications but could not be accommodated because of the limited number of available vacancies.
He explained that each state was allocated 105 positions, made up of 35 Superintendent, 10 Inspectorate and 60 Customs Assistant slots, while the Federal Capital Territory received 72 positions under the approved recruitment formula.
On gender representation, Adeniyi disclosed that 839 women, representing 21.8 per cent of the successful candidates, secured appointments, slightly exceeding the proportion of female applicants.
He noted that the recruitment exercise focused largely on physically demanding operational and anti-smuggling duties, which generally attracted fewer female applicants than specialist roles.
The Customs boss added that the median age of the successful candidates is 26 years, with nearly three-quarters of those recruited below the age of 30. He described the youthful intake as critical to the Service’s long-term modernisation agenda.
Adeniyi also warned applicants against fraudsters, reiterating that recruitment into the Nigeria Customs Service is completely free.
“No candidate has paid, and no candidate should pay, any individual or group for recruitment. Anyone demanding payment is a criminal and should be reported to the Service and relevant security agencies,” he said.