A total of 136,177 candidates have so far been screened in the ongoing Police recruitment exercise.
The exercise which has entered six days has also uploaded 108,768 of the screened candidates after the commencement of the exercise on Monday, January 8 throughout the federation.
A statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations of Police Service Commission (PSC), Ikechukwu Ani on Tuesday, said, the Commission through the Police Recruitment Board is currently screening 416,270 Nigerian youths who have shown interest and applied to be considered for a career in the Nigeria Police Force.
The candidates are being subjected to physical and credentials screening, a prelude to an aptitude test and other processes including medical examination.
The Commission has with the ongoing recruitment exercise, “upgraded and automated the processes to ensure its credibility and create a measurable standard for final selection of successful candidates. Results/outcome of the screening exercise are uploaded real time to the Commission’s portal and monitored by the Situation Room set up and led by Commission Chairman, Dr. Solomon Arase CFR, retired Inspector General of Police.
“Out of the 136, 177 candidates screened, 108,768 have been successfully uploaded, the difference being problems/challenges from fluctuating network”.
The PSC Chairman, Dr. Solomon Arase, retired Inspector General of Police has expressed his satisfaction with the commitment of both the Commission Staff, the Police Officials and other Members of the Police Recruitment Board.
He confirmed that there has been a commendable improvement in both screening and uploading rates and a complementary daily reportage of figures.
Dr. Arase who is the National Coordinator for the Recruitment exercise congratulated the field work force and charged them, “let’s maintain this momentum and strive for even greater achievements”.
He assured the candidates that they should not panic and be rest assured that they will all be screened before the end of the screening exercise, adding that he is aware of the heavy traffic at the screening centres.
Dr. Arase said the Commission is giving the nation a new and credible platform for recruitment into the public Service insisting that the ongoing Police recruitment will surely meet all known international standards devoid of any manipulation.
He repeated that the nation will be proud of the products of this exercise. He however said the Commission may review the sequence of the exercise where the aptitude tests may come first.
The retired IGP noted that reports from the field showed a curious development where many candidates with beautiful Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSSC) and National Examination Council Certificates can not write their names or ordinarily introduce themselves.
He wondered how they acquired such excellent certificates adding that aptitude tests coming as a first stage of the recruitment process will help eliminate obviously unqualified candidates and reduce the size of persons that would subsequently appear for screening.
He disclosed that the Commission will surely get it right and produce a template for effective and efficient recruitment exercise in Nigeria. “When we get it right at the entry point, we would have almost gotten 60 percent quality in the expected performance of the Officers and that is our objective”.
