FCC files criminal charges against Customs over recruitment
Abdullateef Fowewe
The Federal Character Commission (FCC) has filed criminal charges against the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and its Comptroller-General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The action stems from alleged non-compliance with the Federal Character Commission Act during the Service’s 2025/2026 recruitment exercise.
According to the Commission, the case follows repeated efforts to obtain recruitment records, monitor the process, and ensure adherence to the federal character principle, which requires equitable representation across states and geopolitical zones.
The charges allege that the Nigeria Customs Service failed to provide requested records, including nominal rolls, despite a formal request dated 25 March 2026.
Additional claims include the failure to submit stages of the recruitment process for monitoring and non-compliance with a 23 October 2026 directive to suspend certain recruitment and training activities pending review.
The Commission further stated that the Service did not supply clear recruitment criteria and eligibility guidelines.
This, it said, “hindered verification of the distribution of vacancies by state and geopolitical zone.”
The FCC emphasised that monitoring recruitment exercises, accessing relevant records, and ensuring equitable representation are statutory duties, not optional requirements that public institutions may disregard.
The development marks an escalation from earlier demands by the Commission in October 2026 for the Customs Service to suspend ongoing training and release full recruitment documents amid reports of irregularities, including the alleged exclusion of hundreds of candidates whose names appeared on published final lists.
