The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced a major change to its recruitment policy, declaring that future recruitment exercises will now be conducted annually rather than at irregular intervals.
Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, made the announcement on Tuesday during a press briefing at the NCS headquarters in Abuja while presenting the final list of successful candidates for the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.
According to him, the new policy is aimed at creating a predictable manpower planning system that will allow the service to replace retiring officers promptly and provide young Nigerians with regular opportunities to join the organisation.
“The Nigeria Customs Service is moving to an annual recruitment cycle. Recruitment will no longer be an occasional event undertaken every several years. It will be a standing, predictable, yearly process,” Adeniyi said.
He added that the 2026 recruitment exercise would commence later this year and is expected to be concluded within a single calendar year.
“The 2026 Recruitment Exercise will open later this year, and it is my firm intention that it will be completed within a single calendar year, from advertisement to final list,” he stated.
Adeniyi explained that the lengthy duration of the 2024/2025 exercise was largely due to the need to establish a comprehensive recruitment architecture that would support future annual exercises.
According to him, the Customs Service has now developed the systems, screening framework, and verification processes required to conduct subsequent recruitment exercises more efficiently.
“The systems, the screening architecture and the verification processes built during this exercise now exist, and they will not have to be built again,” he said.
“The delays of this cycle were in significant part the cost of constructing that machinery. That cost has now been paid.”
The Comptroller-General said the annual recruitment model would benefit both the service and prospective applicants by improving workforce planning and reducing uncertainty among young Nigerians seeking employment.
He noted that the new approach would enable the service to anticipate manpower gaps arising from retirements and other exits instead of waiting until shortages occur before recruiting.
“An annual cycle serves the Service and the applicant equally. It allows us to plan our manpower against known retirements rather than in reaction to them,” he said.
Adeniyi also stressed that the new system would give unsuccessful applicants clarity about future opportunities.
“And it means that a young Nigerian who is unsuccessful this year knows precisely when the next opportunity arrives, rather than waiting in uncertainty for an announcement that may be years in coming,” he added.
The announcement came as the Customs Service concluded the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, which attracted significant interest from Nigerians seeking employment in the paramilitary agency.
Adeniyi disclosed that 3,852 candidates had been offered appointments across the service’s three entry cadres.
A breakdown of the appointments shows that 1,275 candidates were recruited into the Superintendent Cadre, 367 into the Inspectorate Cadre, and 2,210 into the Customs Assistant Cadre.
The NCS said the new annual recruitment framework is expected to make future exercises more transparent, efficient, and predictable for applicants across the country.
