The Nigeria Customs Service has clarified that candidates whose names appeared on its published recruitment list are not automatically guaranteed appointment, saying they must satisfy the remaining screening requirements before proceeding to training.
The clarification follows complaints from applicants who said they had completed earlier recruitment stages but had yet to receive invitations ahead of the training exercise scheduled for Friday, October 9, 2026.
Customs spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada, said appearing on the list did not mean that the recruitment process had been concluded or that an applicant had received a final appointment.
He explained that candidates must pass the required physical screening and meet other conditions before they can be admitted into the training college and eventually commissioned as officers.
“I will start my response first with a question. Did anyone who complained to you inform you that they have been issued an appointment letter?
“So that means the process is still ongoing. Secondly, the essence of screening is to have a physical examination of successful candidates,” he said.
His explanation came amid uncertainty among some listed applicants, who said they had passed the Computer-Based Test, physical examination and initial screening, accepted an offer through the official recruitment portal and subsequently found their names on the published list.
The applicants maintained that they were still waiting for training invitations despite completing those stages.
Some also claimed that invitations stopped coming on Monday, October 5, leaving them uncertain about whether they would be allowed to participate in the exercise.
Others said they had resigned from their previous jobs and incurred expenses because they believed their appointments had been secured.
Those accounts remain the applicants’ claims. The Customs response did not establish the individual status of each person awaiting an invitation.
Maiwada’s position was that the published list did not remove the need for subsequent verification or guarantee that every listed applicant would advance to training.
The Service’s official training portal states that candidates invited after the documentation and screening exercise are to report to the Customs Training College, Ikeja, on October 9, no later than 6 p.m.
The portal describes those receiving invitations as candidates shortlisted to proceed for basic training following the documentation and screening exercise.
It also directs invited candidates to bring specified items, including white T-shirts and shorts, white canvas shoes and socks, bedding, buckets, a torch, sanitary equipment, writing materials and sports kits.
The clarification places the remaining screening process at the centre of the recruitment controversy, as applicants who consider themselves successful seek confirmation of their eligibility to proceed.
However, the information available does not establish that every applicant without an invitation has been disqualified. It also does not provide a separate reporting date or alternative arrangement for candidates whose status remains unresolved.
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