The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Tuesday officially announced plans to recruit 3,200 officers into the service.

The Acting Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Human Resources Department, Umar Sanusi made this known at a news conference in Abuja.

Sanusi explained that 800 would be recruited to fill vacancies in the Support Staff for Superintendent Cadre Category, and 2,400 would fill that of Customs Inspector and Customs Assistant Cadre in the General Duty Categories.

He said that the service’s portal for the recruitment would be opened 12 midnight of Tuesday and would be closed after three weeks.

According to him, a web portal to receive and process all applications has been created as a sub-domain of the NCS website;www.customs.gov.ng.

He said the portal “is a user-friendly one that prospective applicants from all parts of the country and even outside Nigeria can log in to submit applications and upload documents.

“The URL isvacancy.customs.gov.ng, the specific requirements established for the vacancies.

“Shortlisting of candidates will be done and such candidates short listed will be notified, invited for continuation of the recruitment process.

“Following the necessary approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC), NCS is now set to recruit officers and men to fill existing vacancies.

“Application for recruitment will be open to all eligible Nigerians, who meet the requirements irrespective of their tribe, religion, state, or any other consideration.

“In our bid to ensure equal and fair opportunity to all applicants, we are working every step of the recruitment process in compliance with the requirements of the Federal Character Commission.

“We are actively engaged with the commission to ensure that the process will earn a certificate of compliance on merit,” he said.

Sanusi said that customs would deploy help desk for applicants to handle complaints, and offer support service.

He said the help desk could be reached through the email address — helpdesk@customs.gov.ng, adding that a detailed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) was also populated on the application portal for further clarification.

The Deputy Comptroller-General disclosed that more details of the recruitment would be advertised on seven national newspapers on Wednesday, April 17.

“We are determined to conduct an exercise that is credible, fair and transparent and we will deploy all machinery within our powers to ensure that the integrity of the exercise is not compromised.

“We will like to emphasise that participation in this exercise is free for all eligible applicants, any demand for or solicitation for any payments to process, facilitate, or influence the process under any guise is illegal and should be reported to customs’ office.

“We are aware that some criminal elements may want to take advantage of this recruitment to scam desperate job applicants.

“Some of them are reported to be operating illegal sites and portals, collecting various sums of money from applicants.

“I want to reiterate that the portal for this exercise can only be accessed through the official service web site, where no fees will be demanded,” he said