The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced a major change to its recruitment policy, saying future recruitment exercises will be conducted annually rather than at irregular intervals.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this on Tuesday during a press briefing at the service headquarters in Abuja to announce the final list of successful candidates for the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.
Adeniyi said the new policy was designed to establish a predictable manpower planning system that would enable the service to replace retiring officers promptly while providing young Nigerians with regular opportunities to join the organisation.
He explained that the Customs Service had moved away from a recruitment model in which applicants were forced to wait several years before another opportunity became available.
According to him, the new structure would make recruitment a continuous and predictable process, with the 2026 recruitment exercise expected to commence later this year.
“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.
“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.”
The Comptroller-General said the lengthy process involved in the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise was largely due to the need to establish a robust recruitment architecture that could support future exercises.
He said the service had invested significant time and resources in developing the necessary systems, screening framework and verification processes.
“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.”
Adeniyi said the annual recruitment model would benefit both the Customs Service and prospective applicants by improving workforce planning and reducing uncertainty for Nigerians seeking employment.
He explained that the new system would allow the service to anticipate manpower gaps caused by retirements and other exits rather than waiting until shortages emerged 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.
He added that unsuccessful applicants would also have greater certainty about future opportunities, enabling them to prepare for subsequent recruitment exercises.
“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 stated.
The announcement followed the conclusion of the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, which attracted significant interest from Nigerians seeking employment with the paramilitary agency.
Adeniyi also announced that 3,852 successful candidates had been offered appointments across the Customs Service’s three entry cadres.
The Superintendent Cadre received 1,275 recruits, while 367 candidates were appointed into the Inspectorate Cadre and 2,210 into the Customs Assistant Cadre.
The new annual recruitment policy is expected to provide a more regular pathway for qualified Nigerians seeking to join the Nigeria Customs Service while helping the agency maintain a more predictable workforce structure.
