Stakeholders have lamented after thousands of applicants shortlisted for the Nigeria Customs Service recruitment exercise were left stranded on Monday as the agency’s pre-test portal suffered repeated crashes.
DAILY POST reports that the online exercise, which was designed to help candidates familiarise themselves with the system ahead of the actual computer-based test, returned multiple error messages, including “500 Internal Server Error,” leaving many unable to log in.
The agency had announced that applicants invited for its Superintendent cadre recruitment will participate in a Pre-Test exercise on Monday, September 22, 2025, at 3:00 p.m.
On the said date for the pre-test, however, candidates decried their ordeal at cybercafés, offices, and homes, as overcrowding worsened the situation.
According to some candidates, who spoke to DAILY POST, they waited for several hours, refreshing their browsers all to no avail.
Abdullahi Kabiru, an applicant of Nasarawa State origin, advised the Nigeria Customs to conduct the test in batches to reduce pressure on the servers.
“Many candidates could not access the site for about two to three hours, yet the site still did not open.
“As a result, the intended message did not reach as expected, because the large number of applicants could not access the exam,” he said.
Another applicant, Ojila Adole from Benue State, lamented the crowded nature of most cyber cafés on the date of the pre-test.
While asking the agency to be more coordinated in the conduct of her recruitment examination exercise, he attributed the large number of Nigerian youths seeking to participate in the exercise to the level of unemployment and underemployment in the country.
“Most cyber cafés were overcrowded. The CBT test should be organised batch by batch to help reduce congestion. If every Nigerian youth was gainfully employed, only a few would seek employment in the Nigeria Customs, but the reverse is the case. No one wants to be left out.
“Candidates with SSCE and Diploma/NCE should be allowed to take theirs in batches as well, so they can properly understand how the exam works,” he advised.
On his part, Etuk Effiong from Cross River State accused the agency of not having adequate preparation.
“This is an international embarrassment. I never expected that a federal government agency as revered as Nigeria Customs would embarrass itself and Nigeria at large in this manner.
“Who are their developers that don’t know about simulating the kind of request they expect? Are they not aware of load balancing?” He queried.
Also Speaking to DAILY POST, a public affairs analyst, Mike Divine, decried that after being in existence for several years, the agency could not perform a simple task as organising an online test for its applicants.
According to him, Internet glitches or crashes in the portal have become a normalized occurrence associated with not only NCS but other organisations or agencies in Nigeria, as many applicants always encounter similar issues during every application and recruitment process yearly.
Divine stated that this was an indirect signal that the agencies were still operating like amateurs. “The pain and frustrations applicants face during every recruitment process in Nigeria are unfair and not deserved.
“It’s appallingly worrisome that after more than several decades of existence, the Nigerian Customs Service is still struggling to perform a simple task like this.
“The latest failure of the Agency to conduct a hitch free Pre-test for the shortlisted candidates is irritating and frustrating. I watched my friend with utmost sympathy as he spent the whole day struggling to connect for the CBT Pre-test, but all efforts ended in futility as the NCS’s Pre-test portal suffered repeated crashes. It was very nauseating.
“Nigerian Custom Service is not an infant agency. It has existed for a very long time, hence, should have a standardized system in every facet of her operations,” he said.
When asked for the way forward, the public commentator said that the persistent irregularities and ICT-related hitches each time NCS and other agencies in Nigeria call for applications and screening of job seekers have made many Nigerians raise eyebrows.
“To forestall further similar occurrences in subsequent recruitment exercises, I advise NCS and other agencies to deliberately make concerted investment to stabilize their portals.
“Secondly, there should be a test-running of their internet services and portals prior to every online task for the applicants to ensure that there is a concrete level of reliability and stability before the exercise.
“Finally, if ICT based tests are becoming a problem for them to conduct, then they should go back to the paper based format of writing job based tests,” he concluded.
On his part, Mcfredericks Akor Edache, Benue State Officer, Tracka, said the recent experience at the pre-test exercise calls for the overhauling of the entire recruitment process in the federal civil service which would most definitely cut across the entire service system of the federation.
He said that the experience was not only frustrating but disappointing, which could cause a subsequent doubt in the recruitment process of the service, adding that a situation where the enthusiastic candidates were stranded and didn’t get any directive from any staff of the service was grossly unwise and uncalled-for.
“Nigerians shouldn’t be subjected to such undue stress just because there appears to be limited space for the teaming unemployed. Over the years, most Nigerians have had to bear the notion that nothing will smoothly happen in the civil service without having to first know someone that knows someone who knows someone that knows someone.
The idea that without connections, there exists only a slim chance of government jobs in Nigeria gets strengthened by the recent unfortunate exercise and until this is phased out and corrected, there would be a ripple effect in the educational system where true novelty demonstration would mean a waste of time for many.
“The economy too will keep suffering and the proliferation of internet fraudsters will continue because people will doubt the due process of getting absorbed into the civil service and, thus, decide on the quickest way of survival.
“To forestall this irregular and inappropriate approach, the Nigerian Custom Service can consider a repeat of the exercise or put in a better mechanism that would correct these irregularities with the view to regaining the trust and confidence that the masses have had in them over the years,” he stated.
Responding to the complaints, the Nigeria Customs has stated that its pre-exam portal for recruitment crashed due to what it described as ‘high traffic.
In a statement posted on its official Facebook page, the agency attributed the difficulty to heavy traffic on the portal.
“We are currently experiencing high traffic on the site, which may cause temporary inaccessibility. Kindly keep trying as our team works to resolve the issue,” the NCS wrote.
Meanwhile, the NCS has rescheduled its recruitment pre-test for shortlisted applicants in the Superintendent Cadre, after what it described as “earlier challenges.”
“All shortlisted Superintendent Cadre candidates should use their NIN to check their Batch, Date, and Time,” the notice stated.
