A fresh crisis is brewing within the ongoing Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) recruitment exercise as more than 500 candidates who claim to have successfully completed the recruitment process and had their names published on the final list are being left out of invitations to commence training.
The affected candidates, who spoke to SaharaReporters, said they passed the Computer-Based Test (CBT), physical examinations and initial screening, accepted their appointments through the official Customs recruitment portal and subsequently saw their names published in national newspapers as successful candidates.
However, many of them say they have yet to receive invitations for the training scheduled to commence on Friday, October 9, 2026.
The development has caused anxiety among the affected candidates, many of whom said they resigned from their previous jobs, trained replacements and incurred significant financial expenses after believing that their appointments into the Nigeria Customs Service had been secured.
The candidates explained that invitations to the training appeared to have stopped since Monday, leaving hundreds of people who had completed the recruitment stages uncertain about their status.
Meanwhile, a document obtained by SaharaReporters shows that the Nigeria Customs Service shortlisted 35 candidates from each state of the federation, while 15 candidates were shortlisted from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to the candidates, they travelled to Abuja at considerable personal expense to complete documentation, physical screening and medical evaluation after their names were published on the final list.
“We passed both the CBT and physical exams, as well as the initial screening. We also accepted offer of appointment on the Customs Service portal,” one of them said.
“Our names were subsequently published in national newspapers on the final list. Following that publication, we travelled to Abuja at significant personal expense to complete the documentation, physical screening, and medical evaluation.
“However, as invitations for the commencement of training this Friday, October 9 are being sent out, many of us who completed every required step have not received any communication. Invitations appear to have stopped entirely since Monday, leaving numerous qualified candidates in distress after coming so far in the process.”
The candidates further explained that some individuals have received invitations to training camps despite, according to the affected candidates, not having their names on the published final shortlist.
“We have seen people who got invitations to camp email without their names being on the final list,” one of the candidates said.
The affected applicants said they had formed a WhatsApp group comprising about 500 candidates who believe they have been unfairly excluded from the training invitation process.
“We have a WhatsApp group of about 500 candidates who have been denied of our rights, we merit this job but we are getting sidelined,” an applicant said.
For some candidates, the uncertainty has taken an emotional toll, particularly because many had already informed their employers, families, friends and communities that they had secured positions with the Customs Service.
One affected candidate described the experience as devastating.
“I’ve been battling with broken heart, depression and anxiety since last week Friday,” the candidate said.
“The system is corrupt and they don’t care.
“The so-called high-profile individuals we are planning to report or run to for help, are also the ones that pressured NCS to fix in their candidates first.
“There are some people that got this invitation without partaking in the screening, the regional CBT examination we took, and yet they are now celebrating, while we that went through the stress, pain, expenses, sleepless nights, danger, etc. were not invited.
“It is painful.”
Another candidate said the situation ha exposed the difficulties ordinary Nigerians face when dealing with public recruitment processes.
“This is the truth about the Nigerian system and as hard as it may be, Nigeria just happened to all of us here. The people you are trying to call out do not care one bit,” the candidate said.
“I pray we all make peace with ourselves and just continue our lives.
“It hurts like bad. In fact, I have been unable to step out of my house since last Thursday because everyone in my church and area had congratulated me when that list came out. Some of them have tried to reach out to me and I just muted them. It hurts so much I am not ready to hear comforting words so I haven’t spoken or picked my mother’s calls since Friday.”
My Employer Trained My Replacement After Seeing My Name
One of the candidates said the publication of the Customs final list had directly affected his employment because his former employer had seen his name among those listed as successful candidates.
According to the candidate, the former employer subsequently required him to train another employee to take over his responsibilities.
“At my previous job, my employer saw my name on that list and because I was the only one doing my roles, they insisted I train someone else for two months from August. That training ended on the last day of September and they told me ‘bye-bye’. There was no hiding that list from them because they had seen it,” the candidate said, noting how he lost his previous job.
The candidate requested anonymity while appealing for intervention over the recruitment process.
Candidate Raises Questions Over July 27 Final List
Another candidate, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was shortlisted in the final Nigeria Customs Service list published on July 27, 2026.
In a message addressed to a person the candidate believed could raise the matter publicly, the applicant said the Customs Service had subsequently announced that the recruitment process had been concluded and that the successful candidates had been selected.
“I was shortlisted by the Nigeria Custom Service final list on the 27 of July 2026. While on the first week of August, the Comptroller General of Custom had a press briefing to publicly announced that the recruitment process had been concluded and the successful candidates who have been appointed into the Nigeria Custom Service had been shortlisted and that there would be no more shortlist,” he said.
“This announcement and the shortlisting were published by national newspapers and blogs. And that there will no other list again and they are the people who will be going for the training after their screening and documentation.”
The candidate said the Comptroller-General also announced that the next stage would involve the issuance of Trainee Identification Numbers after candidates completed the required medical-report uploading process.
“He added that the next phase will be collection of Trainee identification number, within one week after they are done with their uploading of their medical report, the upload of medical report started within few days after the shortlisting. However, they never sent the Trainee identification number up till date,” he said.
The candidate said the development had confused people whose names appeared on the final list but who had not received invitations to attend training.
35 Candidates Per State Were Shortlisted
The candidate also raised questions about the number of people who were shortlisted in each state and the number subsequently receiving invitations.
FINAL LIST OF 2024 & 2025 NCS RECRUITMENT_0001.pdf
“As a matter of fact, 35 candidates per state were shortlisted by NCS for the ASC11 across the country. When we went for the screening, we discovered we were 40 in our state – Akwa Ibom – from the attendance we wrote before the screening process began; that’s from my state. Other states also have various numbers, though I don’t know what other states have,” he said.
According to the candidate, 38 people were members of their WhatsApp group for his state, but only about 17 had confirmed receiving training invitations at the time of the message.
“And we have a WhatsApp group of with 38 members, only about 17 have confirm that they have received the invitation, the remaining 21 have not. So even if the remaining two who are not in the WhatsApp group also received, the total number that will now receive will be 18. What about the rest?” he asked.
The candidate questioned whether those whose names had already been published as successful candidates could subsequently be disqualified without explanation.
“Does it mean that they are disqualified after their names were published as successful candidates who were appointed into the Nigeria Customs Service?”
Candidates Fear They May Have Lost Jobs For Nothing
The applicants said the uncertainty was particularly troubling because some candidates had made major life decisions based on the publication of the final recruitment list.
One of the candidates said: “I believe there may be some people who resigned from their previous job after their names were published as successful candidates who have been appointed into the Nigeria Customs Service, they went for their screening and documentation but now they are not invited for the training.”
The candidate then asked whether the recruitment process is truly accessible to Nigerians without connections.
“Is this how Nigeria will work for a child of nobody to become somebody without knowing anybody?” he asked.
However, the affected candidates insist that they are not asking to bypass any recruitment requirement. Rather, they say they want clarity on why individuals whose names appeared on the final list and who completed documentation, physical screening and medical procedures have not received invitations while other people have received training invitations.
Efforts by SaharaReporters to contact the National Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Deputy Comptroller of Customs Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada, were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to calls or messages sent to him.