Thousands of applicants were left stranded on Monday after the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) pre-test portal repeatedly crashed during its much-anticipated recruitment exercise.
The online test, designed to help shortlisted candidates familiarise themselves with the system ahead of the main computer-based examination, was marred by constant error messages, including “500 Internal Server Error,” leaving many unable to log in.
The exercise, scheduled for Monday, September 22, 2025, at 3:00 p.m., quickly turned into frustration for candidates across the country, as many spent hours at cybercafés, offices, and homes refreshing their browsers in vain.
One applicant, Abdullahi Kabiru from Nasarawa State, urged the Customs Service to adopt a batch system in future to ease pressure on its servers. “Many candidates could not access the site for about two to three hours. The intended purpose of the pre-test was defeated,” he lamented.
Another candidate, Ojila Adole from Benue State, described overcrowded cybercafés and blamed the chaos on the nation’s unemployment crisis. “If every Nigerian youth was gainfully employed, only a few would apply. The CBT test should be organised in batches to reduce congestion,” he said.
For Etuk Effiong from Cross River, the incident was nothing short of an embarrassment. “Who are their developers? Do they not know about load balancing? This is an international disgrace for a federal agency of such stature,” he queried.
Public affairs analyst, Mike Divine, said the Customs’ failure reflects a broader trend of incompetence in Nigerian recruitment exercises. “It’s nauseating that after decades of existence, NCS cannot conduct a simple online test. This is amateurish and frustrating,” he said, calling for proper investment in ICT infrastructure and pre-exercise test runs to prevent recurrence.
Tracka’s Benue State officer, Mcfredericks Akor Edache, warned that the experience could erode trust in the civil service recruitment process. “Nigerians should not be subjected to such undue stress. If not corrected, it will only deepen the perception that without connections, there is little hope of securing government jobs,” he said.
Amid mounting criticism, the Customs Service admitted the pre-exam portal crashed due to “high traffic.” In a statement on its official Facebook page, the agency assured applicants that its technical team was working to resolve the issue.
Subsequently, NCS announced that the pre-test has been rescheduled. “All shortlisted Superintendent Cadre candidates should use their NIN to check their Batch, Date, and Time,” the agency stated.
The development has reignited debate on the need for Nigeria’s federal agencies to overhaul their recruitment processes, as applicants continue to question whether the system is truly built to serve them.
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