TheCable

Rauf Aregbesola, minister of interior, says 1.5 million persons applied for 5,000 positions during the recent recruitment for officers for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The minister spoke on Tuesday at a policy dialogue organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

The NSCDC had, in January 2022, shortlisted 5,000 persons for its final recruitment list.

Speaking on the recruitment as well as challenges encountered, Aregbesola said the agency ensured that the process was fair and transparent.

“For the NSCDC, about 1.5 million applications were registered on the website. Those who met the requirements on age and height were about 750,000 and were asked to upload their certificates,” he said.

“A total of 217,000 applicants uploaded their certificates of which 113,000 were shortlisted to write the CBT but only 53,116 eventually sat for the test. It is from these that 5,000 were picked among the successful ones.

“It is a long and tortuous process. It is also a novelty. So, we expect a lot of pressure. Some of the pressures are understandable. A woman came with her son after getting very high-up people to influence his appointment. But we discovered that the son was far, far below the required height of 1.7 metres.

“Some applicants on wheelchairs also came, demanding for the statutory five percent allocation for special people. We politely explained to them that the job is paramilitary, requiring strenuous physical exercise for which they are not eligible, given their physical condition.

“One of the lessons we learnt, which we have always known anyway, is that there is no part of this country where we cannot get merit, if we want the best. We got people from all parts of the country who are qualified, including females, as certified by the federal character commission that was part of the process from the beginning to the end.

“But I must say that Nigerians are reasonable people. Once they see the honest and transparency of our efforts, the pressures begins to abate.”