The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced a new annual recruitment policy, ending the practice of conducting recruitment exercises at irregular intervals.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, announced the policy on Tuesday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the release of the final list of successful candidates for the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.
Adeniyi said the new recruitment cycle would provide the Service with a more predictable manpower planning system while creating regular employment opportunities for young Nigerians.
He said the policy would enable the NCS to plan ahead for vacancies arising from retirements and other exits, rather than waiting for manpower shortages before commencing recruitment.
“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,” he said.
According to the Customs boss, the 2026 recruitment exercise will commence later this year, with a target of completing the process within the same calendar year, from advertisement to the release of the final list.
“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,” Adeniyi said.
He explained that the prolonged duration of the 2024/2025 exercise was largely due to the establishment of a comprehensive recruitment architecture, including screening and verification systems designed to support subsequent exercises.
“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 also reduce uncertainty for applicants who are unsuccessful in a particular exercise, as they would know when the next opportunity would become available.
He said the new arrangement would enable applicants to plan and prepare for subsequent recruitment exercises instead of waiting several years for another opportunity.
“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.
Meanwhile, the NCS has announced the recruitment of 3,852 successful candidates under the concluded 2024/2025 exercise.
The successful candidates were recruited across the three entry cadres of the Service.
A total of 1,275 candidates were offered appointments into the Superintendent Cadre, 367 into the Inspectorate Cadre, while 2,210 were recruited into the Customs Assistant Cadre.
The development marks a shift in the NCS recruitment system, with the Service now positioning its recruitment process as a regular annual exercise rather than an occasional employment window.