The Nigeria Customs Service has announced plans to make its recruitment exercise an annual programme, ending the previous system where applicants waited several years before another opportunity was announced.
Naijaonpoint reports that the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, revealed this on Tuesday during a press briefing at the service headquarters in Abuja while announcing the final list of successful candidates from the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.
Adeniyi said the new recruitment arrangement was designed to improve manpower planning within the service and ensure that vacancies created by retirement and other exits are filled on time.
He explained that the Customs Service had previously conducted recruitment at irregular periods, leaving many Nigerians unsure of when another opportunity would become available.
Under the new system, recruitment will now take place every year, allowing interested applicants to have a clearer idea of when they can apply and reducing long waiting periods.
The Customs boss said the 2026 recruitment exercise is expected to begin later this year and would follow the improved process developed during the recently concluded exercise.
He added that the service had created better screening, verification and selection procedures that would make future recruitment exercises faster and more organised.
Adeniyi noted that the long duration of the 2024/2025 recruitment process was partly due to the effort required to build a reliable recruitment system that could support future exercises.
He said the structures created during the process would continue to serve the Customs Service, meaning future recruitment programmes would not require the same level of preparation.
According to him, the yearly recruitment plan would allow the service to identify possible manpower shortages ahead of time instead of waiting until there is a shortage before hiring new officers.
The Comptroller-General added that the new approach would also help applicants by giving them a clearer timeline for future opportunities if they are not selected during a particular recruitment cycle.
The announcement came after the completion of the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, which attracted applications from many Nigerians seeking to join the paramilitary organisation.
A total of 3,852 successful candidates were offered appointments across the three entry levels of the Customs Service.
The Superintendent Cadre received 1,275 new officers, while 367 candidates were selected for the Inspectorate Cadre and 2,210 others were recruited into the Customs Assistant Cadre.
