The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has promised to reinstate applicants wrongly dropped from its 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, as controversy over alleged irregularities and regional bias continues to trail the selection process.
The service, however, accused some applicants protesting their exclusion of attempting to secure employment through unofficial channels, insisting that appearing on the list of successful candidates did not guarantee automatic employment.
NCS spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada, disclosed this in an interview with BBC Hausa, saying candidates were required to undergo further screening and meet all prescribed conditions before proceeding to training.
“Among those who are currently complaining, some attempted to use backdoor channels to gain entry, which is why they were removed,” Maiwada said.
He, however, assured applicants who believed they had been wrongly disqualified that their complaints would be investigated and necessary corrections made.
“If we find that any candidate was removed erroneously, we will promptly reinstate them,” he said.
The controversy followed allegations that some candidates whose names appeared on the successful candidates’ list were subsequently dropped and replaced with individuals who did not participate in the recruitment exercise.
Customs recruitment: FCC demands suspension, probe of irregularities
In a statement, the NCS acknowledged receiving complaints from applicants who participated in the recruitment process but were later excluded.
The service said 397 applicants were disqualified during physical screening over issues including substance abuse, age, physical fitness and documentation.
Maiwada said some candidates failed medical assessments, with conditions such as Hepatitis B and high blood pressure cited among the reasons for disqualification. Others allegedly submitted fake credentials or exceeded the stipulated age limit.
He maintained that the list published after the examination stages was not a final offer of employment, explaining that candidates had to pass additional checks, including drug tests, age verification and medical assessments.
The spokesperson also addressed reports that some applicants had resigned from their previous jobs after seeing their names on the successful candidates’ list, only to be excluded during subsequent screening.
He said the service had warned candidates against leaving their existing employment before completing the recruitment process.
“We warned them not to terminate their current employment because being invited to this stage does not guarantee a job,” he said.
Maiwada added that candidates who intended to leave their jobs were advised to liaise with their employers and comply with the required notice arrangements.
He further explained that passing the screening would not automatically qualify candidates for commissioning as customs officers, as recruits must successfully complete examinations, parade drills, firearms training and customs operational courses.
However, the spokesperson did not address an unverified list circulating online that allegedly showed the recruitment favoured a particular region.
The exercise has also attracted scrutiny from the Federal Character Commission (FCC), which called for its suspension over alleged violations of federal character principles.
Abdulwasiu Bawa-Allah, chairman of the FCC Financial Services Committee, said the commission was not invited to monitor the recruitment exercise.
The development has raised questions about compliance with federal character requirements in the recruitment of personnel into federal agencies.
However, Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, defended the exercise in August, maintaining that successful candidates were allocated equally across the 36 states of the federation.
In July, the NCS announced 3,852 successful candidates from 573,680 applications for positions across three entry cadres: superintendent, inspectorate and customs assistant.
The service subsequently invited successful candidates for physical screening and documentation at the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College in Gwagwalada, Abuja, in September, after which some candidates were invited for training.
The latest controversy has renewed scrutiny of the recruitment process, with applicants demanding explanations for their exclusion and the FCC raising concerns about the absence of monitoring.
The NCS has maintained that all candidates must satisfy the stipulated requirements before employment, promising to correct any errors established through its investigation of complaints.
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