By Meletus Eze
Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government were on Tuesday urged to adopt the N-power recruitment process and procedures in their recruitment for the sake of transparency.
TBI Africa said that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and Youth Empowerment Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede, said this in Abuja while featuring on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum.
The SSA on job creation said he had always advocated that MDAs should adopt the process and procedures of N-power during recruitment to forestall crisis and favoritism and make it more acceptable to the people.
Imoukhuede said that all beneficiaries of the N-power programme needed to do was to go through the process and apply as volunteers with their credentials on the scheme’s database.
He said that the N-power recruitment procedure had been adjudged the most transparent in recent history of Nigeria.
According to him, if the Nigerian youth themselves can adjudge the programme as the most transparent, I do not know what to add, they are clearly speaking the word of truth.
“The programme was designed in such a way that you do not need to know anyone, you just need to be able to type www.npower.ng in other to be able to fill the form, apply and do your test.
“After doing your test we do what is called a random algorithm to make selection, so there is no favouritism of any sort and I think it is good point to make clear.’’
He said that in in 2017 the scheme received 2.5 million applications.
“But after removing all incomplete applications, duplicates, triplicates in some cases we came out with 1.8 million clean applications and we had to pick 300, 000.
“That is why it is important for applicants to understand N-Power is a serious business,’’ he said.
TBI African quote the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recall that no fewer than 16 applicants were in 2014 feared dead during the Nigeria Immigration Service job test across the country caused by stampede.
At the National Stadium, Abuja, the centre for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, eight applicants were reported dead.
Also, four others were feared dead at the Port Harcourt, Rivers centre, three in Minna, Niger state and one in Benin-City, Edo.
“If a recruitment procedure has been carried out without such incidents and devoid of favouritism, it should be replicated,’’ the Presidential Aide advised.
He, however, said that the scheme had devised means of detecting erring volunteers and sanctioned them accordingly.
“While we celebrated some volunteers who resigned because they got other jobs, so far 1000 people have been evicted due to indiscipline or sharp practices.
“So for every single volunteer, there are six applicants waiting to take the space,’’ Imoukhuede said.
