Nigeria Police Recruitment: Over 100,000 candidates successful at first screening

The Police Service Commission (PSC) on Friday said it shortlisted 110,469 applicants out of the 338, 250 applicants invited for the just concluded screening at the states and FCT Police Commands.

The chairman of the commission, Mike Okiro, who disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday, said the aptitude tests for the successful candidates would begin on Aug. 22 across the 36 states and FCT.

He said that out of the 110, 469 applicants, 22, 454 were shortlisted for Cadet ASPs, 24,456 for Cadet Inspectors and 63,559 for Police Constables.

The police is to recruit 10,000 new personnel. In all, the commission received 911,438 applications before the first screening cut the number to over 300,000.

Mr. Okiro said that aptitude test for cadet ASPs for both general duty and specialists will begin on Aug. 22 while that of Cadet Inspectors for both general duty and specialists will hold on Aug. 23.

He said the test for police constables for both cadres would take place on Aug. 24.

According to him, document and physical screening of specialists is scheduled for Aug. 29 after which they would have taken the aptitude tests.

Mr. Okiro said the commission adhered strictly to the requirements needed from the applicants for the exercise.

He said some of the applicants were screened out for over age, alteration and falsification of documents and year of graduation.

The others included physical features, tattoo marks, first school leaving certificate, certificate of state origin and class of degree or diploma.

He said over 115 applicants who were arrested during the screening for forgery and impersonation were handed over to the police for investigation and prosecution.

The chairman restated the commission’s desire to sustain the integrity of the exercise, saying that questions for the tests would only be disclosed to the coordinators on the examination date.

He reassured Nigerians that the exercise would be transparent and all applicants would be given equal opportunities to pursue a career in the police.

Mr. Okiro warned that any candidate caught undermining the integrity of the exercise would be prosecuted.

He said emails had been sent to all shortlisted applicants, adding that the master list for each state had been sent to all state commands to paste at command headquarters and examination centres.

The chairman said the commission was not under pressure from any quarter to favour any candidate.

He said there were no reports of misconduct against any coordinator during the screening.

(NAN)