HURIWA Demands Transparency In Customs Recruitment

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has demanded transparency and accountability from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) over the ongoing 2025 recruitment exercise.

The group also challenged the agency to publish the full list of candidates who sat for its Computer-Based Test (CBT), along with their scores and states of origin.

Speaking to journalists during a press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja, the group’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, warned that any attempt by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to shield recruitment details from public scrutiny would amount to a gross violation of the principles of fairness and federal character as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Onwubiko said that the group had received widespread complaints over a purported list in circulation showing alleged state-by-state distribution of shortlisted candidates for the final phase of the recruitment, which appears heavily skewed in favour of certain regions of the country.

He noted that instead of dismissing the viral list as fake without offering an alternative, the Nigeria Customs Service should publish the authentic recruitment data to dispel public suspicion and restore confidence in the process.

“If the list currently circulating online is fake, where then is the authentic version? Nigerians deserve to know the truth. Those who sat for the recruitment examination have a right to see their results and how they were evaluated. Anything short of transparency and accountability in this process is unacceptable,” he said.

Onwubiko stressed that recruitment into a federal agency such as the Nigeria Customs Service must reflect the spirit and letter of the Federal Character principle, warning that the culture of secrecy and favouritism has become a breeding ground for national resentment, inequality, and division.

He maintained that equal opportunities in all recruitment and appointments are indispensable to the sustenance of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy, adding that merit, fairness, and regional balance must guide all public service enlistments.

“Opacity in recruitment is not just a bureaucratic flaw; it is a constitutional infraction. The Customs Service cannot be funded by taxpayers from all parts of the country yet conduct its employment exercises like a private estate,” he said.

Meanwhile, the group also accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of perpetuating what it described as a deliberate pattern of marginalisation and exclusion of the Igbo and the South-East region from key national structures.

It noted that since the inception of the current administration, critical appointments in the security, revenue, and economic sectors have systematically excluded qualified Igbo officers, while tenure extensions have been used to block their progression to leadership positions.

He cited the recent one-year extension of the tenure of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, as an example, alleging that an Igbo senior officer due for promotion was bypassed and also referenced similar incidents in the Nigeria Police Force, where the tenure of the current Inspector-General was extended beyond retirement age, allegedly, to prevent an Igbo officer next in rank from succeeding him.

The association further condemned what it called “selective justice” by the Federal Government, noting that while Boko Haram terrorists and bandits in the North have been granted amnesty and reintegrated into society, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, remains in prolonged detention without fair trial.

“President Tinubu’s government continues to negotiate with terrorists in the North-West and release so-called repentant insurgents in the North-East, yet Nnamdi Kanu (whose alleged offences are political and non-violent) remains in custody. This is a glaring double standard that must end,” the group said.