No fewer than 9,000 Akwa Ibom youths are jostling for jobs in the Nigeria Police Force in its ongoing recruitment exercise, the state police spokesperson told Straightnews.
About 30,000 youths will be recruited to join the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in the ongoing recruitment exercise, a statement by the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Solomon Arase, confirmed.
Arase, a former Inspector General of Police, said over 400,000 Nigerians had applied for the police constable job after six weeks of receiving applications.
The State Police Headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia in Uyo Local Government Area, looks like a market square owing to the huge number of candidates queuing for the paltry slots meant for the state.
Young men and women dressed in white shots and white singlets armed with their academic qualifications daily flood and ‘ambush’ Godswill Akpabio Hall in the police headquarters for screening.
The exercise in the state commenced on January 8 will end on January 29, 2024.
In the car park outside the headquarters, vehicles of different make are lined up while vigilant policemen at the gate keep their eyes on all the visitors coming and leaving the premises.
In an interview with Straightnews on Friday, January 19, Odiko MacDon, Akwa Ibom State Police/Public Relations Officer, said ‘‘The recruitment exercise in Akwa Ibom State commenced on Monday, January 8 and will last till January 29, 2024. It is a three-week exercise.
‘‘We have over 9,000 candidates from Akwa Ibom State who applied and were successfully shortlisted for the exercise. So far, the exercise has been successful and smooth free of any form of corruption, bias. Today is the 10th day since the exercise commenced and second week of screening. A whole lot has been achieved.
‘‘We intend to keep it transparent as Inspector-General of Police has directed us. Of course, Akwa Ibom is known for transparency. We intend to keep it that way. We enjoin all the candidates coming here for screening to continue to maintain decorum.’’
MacDon stated that ‘‘The Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durosinmi has advised the candidates to maintain high level of decorum and assured them that based on their performance, and recommendations they (those who will be successful) will have to proceed to the next level of CTV test which is coming up soon. They are being for general duty and specialist. General duty is for those who will be involved in the day to day prevention of crimes and criminality, apprehension of offenders.’’
On the criteria for the recruitment, the Superintendent of Police outlined ‘‘The criteria are that the person must not have bow legs, must not have flat feet, must not have sight impairment, must not have cross transformation and malfunctioning of teeth. If he is a male, he must not be less than 1.67 metres and a female must not be less than 1.64metres.
‘‘The age bracket is between 18 and 25 years. Anybody who is above 25 is not qualified. So far, sons and daughters of Akwa Ibom have turned up in their multitude for the exercise. This shows that the state has a wide acceptability of police and of course the state is one of the most peaceful states in the country.
‘‘In the whole, about 30,000 are to be recruited,’’ he added.
