Customs Recruitment Portal Crashes During Pre-Exam Test

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Some applicants shortlisted for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) recruitment exercise were left stranded on Monday after the agency’s online portal crashed during a scheduled pre-exam session.

The pre-test exercise, designed to help candidates familiarise themselves with the computer-based test (CBT) platform, instead returned error messages such as “gateway time-out” and “500 internal server error.”

Frustrated candidates took to social media to express their anger. A user identified as Dr Terrific on 𝕏 described the experience as “horrendous,” adding:

“Nigerian Customs Service pre–CBT has displayed horrendous error messages since 3 pm set for the exams. Been trying to set the platform up for someone, and it is just an odious outcome! Fix this, and let no candidate take the fall for your failings.”

Another applicant, Joe_Akir, lamented repeated “500 Internal Server Error” messages, while Musty faulted the agency’s preparedness for a national exercise, saying:

“This is what we’re facing during the Nigeria Customs pretest in 2025. How is a national recruitment portal this unprepared? Thousands of applicants are stuck, frustrated, and unheard. Please fix this. We deserve a fair process.”

Customs Reacts

Responding via its official 𝕏 handle, the NCS admitted the platform experienced downtime due to heavy traffic.

“The service is aware of the current issue with the site; we’re actively experiencing high traffic which may cause temporary inaccessibility. Kindly keep trying while our team works tirelessly to resolve the issue,” the statement read.

On September 10, the NCS disclosed that it had received 573,523 applications during the first phase of the recruitment exercise.

The second stage, a nationwide online CBT, is scheduled to hold between September 14 and 21, 2025, with the pre-test session introduced to familiarise candidates with the system ahead of the main examination.