Nigeria: Customs Warns Nigerians Against Fake Recruitment Update

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a Vanguard report from Lagos, says the Nigeria Customs Service has disowned a recruitment update being shared on social media, describing it as fake and not issued by the agency. The warning was announced on Thursday in Abuja by NCS spokesperson Abdullahi Maiwada, according to the report published on 23 July 2026.

Maiwada asked Nigerians to ignore the circulating notice and said recruitment information should be checked only through the service’s official communication channels. The report listed the NCS’s verified public-facing handles as Nigeria Customs Service on Facebook and @customsng on Instagram, X, Threads and TikTok. He also urged the public to be cautious and confirm information before reposting it.

The warning matters because the NCS recruitment process has drawn large public interest. Citing the News Agency of Nigeria, Vanguard reported that the service received 573,523 applications in the first phase of a recruitment exercise after advertising 3,927 openings on Dec. 27, 2024. The positions covered the Superintendent, Inspectorate and Customs Assistant cadres.

According to the same report, different stages of the recruitment process took place in 2025, but appointment letters had not yet been issued. Against that background, unofficial recruitment messages could mislead applicants or expose job seekers to misinformation. The publisher did not report any arrests, financial losses or identified source behind the fake update.