Nigeria Customs to Begin Yearly Recruitment, Gives Update on 2026 Hiring

• Nigeria Customs had announced a yearly recruitment system to replace its previous irregular hiring process
• The agency had revealed that the 2026 recruitment exercise would begin later this year
• Customs had offered appointments to 3,852 successful candidates from the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced that it will begin conducting recruitment exercises every year, ending the long gaps that previously separated employment opportunities in the agency.

Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, made the announcement on Tuesday during a press briefing at the service headquarters in Abuja while unveiling the final list of successful candidates for the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise.

When will the 2026 Customs recruitment begin?

Adeniyi disclosed that the 2026 recruitment exercise would commence later this year and expressed confidence that the entire process would be completed within a single calendar year, Punch reports.

"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.

He added: "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."

Why Customs changed its recruitment process

The Customs boss explained that the decision is intended to improve manpower planning and ensure the service replaces retiring officers without delay.

He said the agency had now developed the screening, verification and recruitment systems needed to conduct future exercises more efficiently, noting that much of the delay experienced during the 2024/2025 recruitment was due to building that framework.

"The systems, the screening architecture and the verification processes built during this exercise now exist, and they will not have to be built again," Adeniyi said.

According to him, the new approach will also benefit job seekers by giving them certainty about when recruitment opportunities will become available instead of waiting years for another exercise.

Over 3,800 candidates offered appointments

The Comptroller-General also confirmed that 3,852 successful applicants were offered appointments in the just concluded recruitment exercise.

The breakdown showed that 1,275 candidates were recruited into the Superintendent Cadre, 367 into the Inspectorate Cadre, while 2,210 were employed into the Customs Assistant Cadre.

The annual recruitment policy is expected to create a more predictable hiring process for both the Nigeria Customs Service and thousands of Nigerians seeking employment in the agency.

Nigerian police officers reject N100m bribe

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have rejected a N100 million bribe offered during an investigation into a major railway vandalism syndicate.

According to a statement from the Force Public Relations Office, the operation was carried out by the Force Intelligence Department Special Tactical Squad, which intercepted suspects linked to large-scale theft of railway infrastructure.