Police Commission Decries S/East, Lagos’ Low Participation In Constable Recruitment

The Police Service Commission (PSC) has again bemoaned low participation of indigenes of Lagos State and South East zone of the country in the ongoing recruitment process for the constables cadre in the Nigeria Police Force.

The commission explained that although applicants from all six geo-political were shortlisted for the just concluded Computer-Based Test (CBT) examination, the numbers recorded from Lagos and South East were not encouraging.

Ikechukwu Ani, the spokesman for the commission said in Abuja on Wednesday that the applicants were those that were successful from the document and physical screening conducted nationwide earlier this year.

He noted that Anambra State had the least number of applicants shortlisted for the exercise with only 143 applicants while 134 showed up for the exam.

According to him, Anambra is closely followed by Ebonyi State with 202 shortlisted applicants while 184 sat for the examination, and Lagos state came third from the rear with 277 shortlisted applicants and 275 sitting for the exams.

Ani added, ”The figures for other South West states are: Ogun, 677 shortlisted, 648 sat for the exams; Osun, 1137 shortlisted, 1088 showed up for the exams; Ekiti, 727 shortlisted, 692 sat for the exams; Ondo, 1532 shortlisted, 1431 showed up; and Oyo, 954 shortlisted, 904 sat for the exams.

”The figures for the other South East states are; Enugu, 400 shortlisted, 362 showed up; Imo, 506 shortlisted, 467 sat for the exams and Abia, 318 shortlisted and 294 showed up.

”The figures for South South Zone are: Akwa Ibom, 2263, shortlisted, 2195 sat for the exams; Cross Rivers, 1,350 were shortlisted, 1290 appeared for the exams; Rivers, 947 were shortlisted, 907 sat for the exams; Bayelsa, 502 were shortlisted, 462 showed up for the exams; Edo, 696 were shortlisted, 659 sat for the exams and Delta where 487 were shortlisted and 436 sat for the exams.

”For North East: 4063 applicants were shortlisted in Borno while 3948 sat for the exams; 2163 were shortlisted in Taraba and 2082 showed up. In Gombe state, 2,204 were shortlisted and 2117 applicants sat for the exams; Adamawa had 4295 shortlisted and 4161 sat for the exams. 3317 candidates were shortlisted in Bauchi and 3226 sat for the exams. Yobe state had 1839 shortlisted candidates and 1841 sat for the exams.

”In respect of the North West, 3733 candidates were shortlisted for Kaduna state and 3585 sat for the exams, Kano had 3816 shortlisted candidates and 3689 sat for the exams; Katsina had 4167 applicants shortlisted while 4051 sat for the exams.

”For North Central, Kogi had 2024, shortlisted and 1979, sat for the exams; Plateau, 2274 shortlisted, 2185 showed up for the exams.4105 were shortlisted in Benue and 3444 sat for the exams. Niger State also shortlisted 2530 candidates and 2444 sat for the exams. Kwara State had 1150 applicants shortlisted and 1096 showed up for exams and The Federal Capital Territory Abuja had 551 shortlisted candidates and 535 showed up for the exams.”

He stressed that the commission’s chairman, Musiliu Smith, a retired Inspector-General of Police, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the CBT held nationwide on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st April 2022.

Ani stated that Justice Clara Ogunbiyi, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, supervised the exercise in the North East while other Commissioners in the Commission coordinated the exercise in their respective zones.

He said a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Lawal Bawa and Hajia Najatu Mohammed covered the North West, while Bar Rommy Mom covered the North Central. Commissioner Austin Briamoh covered the South South and Commissioner Onyemuche Nnamani, the South East.