How we selected, employed 3,852 candidates from 573,680 applicants nationwide – Customs CG

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, has said that the Service employed 3,852 candidates from 573,680 applicants in its 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.

While announcing the final list of the successful candidates at NCS headquarters on Tuesday in Abuja, CG Adeniyi said the 105 candidates were employed from each of the 36 states of the federation, while 72 candidates were employed from the FCT, making a total of 3,852 candidates.

He said recruitment recorded one of the highest levels of competition in the history of the service, with just 0.67 per cent of applicants making the final selection.

The Nigeria Customs Service recruitment exercise opened in December 2024 as part of efforts to strengthen manpower following years of retirements and increased responsibilities linked to trade facilitation, border security, revenue generation and anti-smuggling operations.

The latest recruitment comes amid ongoing reforms by the Service aimed at improving automation, intelligence-driven enforcement and operational efficiency across Nigeria’s borders and ports.

Adeniyi explained that the successful candidates were selected across the three entry cadres of the service, comprising 1,275 candidates for the Superintendent Cadre, 367 for the Inspectorate Cadre and 2,210 for the Customs Assistant Cadre.

He said the announcement marked the conclusion of a recruitment process that began in December 2024 and was delayed by the huge number of applications, administrative challenges and the need to ensure a transparent selection process.

The recruitment exercise lasted 20 months, from its commencement in December 2024 to the release of the final list in August 2026.

Adeniyi said the Service received an unprecedented number of applications, all of which had to undergo multiple stages of verification before the final list was produced.

He said: “I am pleased to announce the release of the final list of successful candidates in the 2024/2025 Recruitment Exercise of the Nigeria Customs Service.

“A total of 3,852 candidates have been offered places across the three cadres of entry: 1,275 in the Superintendent Cadre, 367 in the Inspectorate Cadre and 2,210 in the Customs Assistant Cadre. This is the final list, and it concludes the exercise that opened in December 2024.