By Stella Odueme
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has released the final list of 3,852 successful candidates in its 2024/2025 recruitment exercise and announced that recruitment into the Service will now be conducted annually, beginning with the 2026 exercise.
The Comptroller-General of Customs disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, describing the exercise as one of the most rigorous in the history of the Service due to the unprecedented number of applications and the extensive verification process.
According to the Comptroller-General, the successful candidates comprise 1,275 recruits in the Superintendent Cadre, 367 in the Inspectorate Cadre and 2,210 in the Customs Assistant Cadre.
He apologised to applicants and their families for the delay in concluding the exercise, explaining that the Service had to process and verify 573,680 applications before arriving at the final list.
He said the recruitment process involved multiple stages, including application screening, computer-based testing and credential verification through the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) database to ensure that only qualified candidates were selected.
The Comptroller-General added that the successful applicants would still undergo physical and medical examinations before receiving final approval from the Nigeria Customs Service Board.
He described the competition as exceptionally intense, noting that only 3,852 applicants emerged successful from more than 573,000 applications, representing a success rate of 0.67 per cent—or roughly one successful candidate for every 148 applicants.
A breakdown of the applications showed that the Superintendent Cadre attracted 276,995 applications for 1,275 positions, while the Inspectorate Cadre recorded 128,604 applications for just 367 vacancies, making it the most competitive category. The Customs Assistant Cadre received 168,081 applications for its 2,210 available positions.
The Comptroller-General encouraged unsuccessful applicants not to lose hope, stressing that many met the required qualifications but could not be accommodated because of the limited vacancies.
He assured them that additional opportunities would become available under the Service’s newly adopted annual recruitment policy.
The Customs Service also said the recruitment exercise complied with the Federal Character principle, with all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory represented.
Under the approved allocation formula, each state received 105 positions across the three cadres, while the FCT was allocated 72 slots.
On gender representation, the Comptroller-General disclosed that 839 women, representing 21.8 per cent of the successful candidates, secured employment.
He noted that although female applicants accounted for just over one-fifth of total applications, they recorded a slightly higher success rate than their male counterparts.
According to him, the relatively lower number of female recruits reflected the nature of available vacancies, as about 85 per cent of the positions were in physically demanding operational roles, including anti-smuggling patrols, border operations and field enforcement.
He said the Service would intensify efforts to encourage more women to pursue careers in operational customs duties as part of measures to improve gender balance.
The Comptroller-General further revealed that the exercise produced a youthful workforce, with a median age of 26 years and nearly three-quarters of the successful candidates below the age of 30.
He said the influx of younger personnel would enhance the Service’s ability to embrace technology-driven customs administration, including data analytics and automated risk management systems.
The Customs chief said the decision to institutionalise yearly recruitment was aimed at ensuring a steady inflow of skilled personnel to strengthen the Service’s operational efficiency and meet the evolving demands of modern customs administration.
