The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has disclosed that its new policy of recruitment exercises will henceforth be conducted annually instead of at irregular intervals, and longer be an occasional event undertaken every several years
Penpushing reports that Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, made this known at a press conference on Tuesday on the release of the final list of successful candidates for the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise at the service headquarters in Abuja.
“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 stated
Penpushing further reports that Adeniyi explained that major shift in its recruitment policy was part of efforts to create a predictable manpower planning system that would enable the service to replace retiring officers promptly while giving young Nigerians regular opportunities to join the organisation.
The customs boss emphasized that the service has moved away from a recruitment model under which applicants had to wait several years before another opportunity became available, explaining that the new structure would make recruitment a continuous process, with the 2026 exercise expected to commence later this year.
Penpushing also reports that he said the Customs Service now has the systems, screening framework and verification processes required to conduct future recruitment exercises more efficiently.
“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
Penpushing reports that he said the lengthy process experienced during the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise was largely due to the need to establish a robust recruitment architecture capable of supporting future exercises.
The Comptroller-General said the service had invested time and resources in building the framework, adding that subsequent recruitment exercises would benefit from the structures already put in place.
“The systems, the screening architecture and the verification processes built during this exercise now exist, and they will not have to be built again. The delays of this cycle were in significant part the cost of constructing that machinery. That cost has now been paid’, he said
Penpushing further reports that Adeniyi said the annual recruitment model would benefit both the service and prospective applicants by improving workforce planning and reducing uncertainty among young Nigerians seeking employment.
The customs boss explained that the approach would enable the service to anticipate manpower gaps arising from retirements and other exits instead of waiting until shortages occur 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.
Penpushing also reports that he stated that the new system would equally provide clarity for unsuccessful applicants by allowing them to prepare for future opportunities without prolonged uncertainty.
“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.
Penpushing reports that the announcement followed the conclusion of the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, which attracted significant interest from Nigerians seeking employment in the paramilitary agency.
The Comptroller-General equally announced that 3,852 candidates had been offered appointments across the service’s three entry cadres, adding that of the successful candidates, 1,275 were recruited into the Superintendent Cadre, 367 into the Inspectorate Cadre, and 2,210 into the Customs Assistant Cadre.
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