The Nigeria Customs Service is the paramilitary agency that is in charge of collecting and accounting for revenue, and also stopping smuggling activities in the country. The agency is a very important one to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Do you have the intention of working as an NCS officer? In this article, you will find the full information regarding the Nigeria Customs ranks and the salary structures of officers in this organization. With this, you’d be sure of what to expect when you apply for the service recruitment.
What You Must Know About Nigeria Customs Service
One of the major things you need to do before going for the Nigeria Customs Service recruitment exercise, is to learn about the history of the agency. This will help you in case you ever come across any question revolving around that.
Speaking of that, the Nigeria Customs Service also known as NCS is one of the oldest paramilitary agencies in the country. Although the agency was officially formed in 1958, its activities have been in existence for a very long time. As early as at when the British to charge of the region now known as Nigeria.
Since inception, the service has witnessed lots of reformations by various leaders (in the agency) and heads of governments to get to the level it is today.
Though the reputation of the agency have been tinted with rumours and confirmed cases of bribery and corruption, it is still one of the most comfortable places to work in the country.
When compared with other paramilitary services in the country like the Nigeria Civil Defence, Nigeria Immigration Service, Federal Road Safety Corps and the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Customs Service officers are living large. Only the Police come close to making the kind of money they do, aside from their basic salaries.
What Is The Full Role Of NCS In The Country?
The full roles of the Nigeria Customs Service within the federation are outlined below:
- Revenue collection. This is one of the primary roles of the agency. They are responsible for receiving Import/Export Duties alongside other levies which they account to the Ministry of Finance.
- Anti-smuggling activities. This is another primary function of the service. They are constitutionally empowered to check smuggling activities in the country.
- Engaging in research, planning and enforcement of fiscal policies of the government.
- Generating statistics for planning and budgetary purposes.
- Manifest processing
- Monitoring foreign exchange utilisation
- Registration and designation of collecting banks
- Licensing and registration of Customs agents
- security functions and
- Security functions and working with other government agencies in all approved ports and border station.
What Is The Minimum Salary For NCS Officers?
As recently approved salary scale by the Federal Government of Nigeria, the minimum wage paid to all workers in the country is N30,000. This is also applicable to the Nigeria Customs Service. No NCS officer receives below that as salary at the end of every month.
Apart from the basic monthly salary, the NCS workers have other allowances and bonuses which they look forward to at the end of every week, month and year respectively. More details on that can be found below.
The Salary Structure And Rank Of Nigeria Customs Service
The salary and rank structure of the Nigeria Customs Service is based on the Consolidated Paramilitary Salary Structure (CONPASS). It is the salary and rank structure being used by all the paramilitary agencies in the country.
That is the reason the salaries of Nigerian Police officers, Immigration Service workers and Civil Defence officers are almost the same.
Based on the salary structure (CONPASS), the least paid officer in the NCS receives above N30,000 as his monthly salary. This followed by an allowance of N4000 to N10,000 which he also receives on a monthly basis to take care of his accommodation needs.
The Comptroller-General of Customs being the highest-ranked officer in the agency receives the highest amount of money as salary per month.
How much is he paid? You may be asking.
Well, the exact amount he receives as his salary per month is not known to the public. But based on our findings, the Nigeria Customs Service Comptroller-General receives nothing less than N2 Million each month. That is including his allowances.
Like other paramilitary agencies in the country, NCS ranking has its senior and junior officers. The senior ones start with the Assistant-Comptroller-General (ACG) up to the highest is the Comptroller-General himself.
Below is a full list of the senior ranks in ascending order:
- Comptroller-General – The person occupying this position is appointed by the President of the country. He works hand in hand with the Minister of Finance to run the agency. He is accountable to the Minister directly. However, in the agency, every other officer is accountable to him.
- Deputy Comptroller-Generals – This is the highest rank attainable by an officer in the service. The position is usually occupied by 6 people at a time. It is from here that the President of the country appoints who will serve as the Comptroller-General of the agency.
- Assistant Comptroller-Generals – This is also a very highly desired rank in the service.
- Comptrollers – This rank comes with lots of benefits attached to it. For instance a big salary, big allowances and bonus.
- Assistant-Comptroller-General – This rank sounds like the third rank above but in reality it is quite different from it. It is occupied by a single person at a time. It is also one of the highest ranks in the service.
The picture below shows the complete rank structure of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS)
NCS Allowances
Apart from the huge salaries they receive per month, Customs officers are also entitled to lots of allowances. The following are some of them:
- Uniform allowance
- Torchlight allowance
- Hazard allowance
- Furniture allowance
- House maintenance allowance
- Utility allowance
- General services allowance and many others.
In Summary
The Nigeria Customs salary and rank is one of the most organised in the country, thanks to the Consolidated Paramilitary Salary Structure being used in the country.
If you desire to join the service someday, ensure you go through the information here before applying for the recruitment exercise.
