ABUJA — The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says some applicants protesting their removal from its recruitment list had tried to use "backdoor channels" and that anyone dropped by mistake will be reinstated.

The service's spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada, said 397 applicants were disqualified at the physical screening for reasons including drug use, age, fitness and documents. He said appearing on the list did not guarantee employment.

The Federal Character Commission has called for the exercise to be suspended, saying it was not invited to monitor it. In July, the service named 3,852 successful candidates out of 573,680 applicants, and the Comptroller-General, Adewale Adeniyi, said places were shared equally among the 36 states.