NIS Aptitude Test: Outright Rip-Off By Musa Jeb Luka

About 68,000 job seekers turned out for the NIS aptitude test at the National Stadium Abuja Where eight people were trampled to death in an unfortunate stampede at one of the venue's gate

This is typical. It is called stealing, outright rip-off; pure and simple.

Reports have it that the 6 million prospective applicants who submitted applications for the few openings at the Nigerian Immigration Service were each made to pay N1000 processing fee to the Service. Arithmetically, this translates to N6 billion.

Asked to explain why his ministry was charging unemployed Nigerians N1000 for [a job] application that should, ordinarily be free, Abba Moroh, the fashionista Minister, explained, like most public [office holders], that the N1000 charged, "is the charge by the consulting firm to defray cost of accessing the website to fill forms. This is also intended to save the applicants the cost of travelling to [Abuja] to submit their application forms, as well as avoid other inherent risks, including unauthorised middlemen activities and other abuses."

And we ask: N1000 to access a job website? Did he say defray cost? Only in Nigeria [does this happen].

Now, even if we assume without conceding that it is ok to charge N1000 for all the dumb reasons he gave, the question really is: why didn't the consulting firm go the whole hog and conduct a Computer Based Testing (CBT) as against getting candidates to sit for the exams in the open? How do you, Mr. Minister, hope to manually mark, score, and grade 6 million candidates in a fair, consistent and transparent manner?

In Kaduna for instance, candidates [sat] in the open to write their exams. In Abuja, it [was] at the National Stadium; in Edo, [the] Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium. In Lagos, it [was] the National Stadium too. And yet, these [job seekers] were charged N1000 just to be treated [so] shabbily.

Here, for making candidates to sit and write in the open, the Minister's reasons for charging the N1000 stands totally nullified. The least the Immigration Service can, or should have done, was to set up a job website (a typical website shouldn't go for more than N200,000) and allow applicants submit their applications online (that shouldn't be more than N100 in a typical internet café). And if, for whatever reason, applicants must be charged, it should've been because they will be treated with some decency and respect—like getting them to write in a decent exam environment.

With [almost] everyone having access to the internet [these days], the CBT is the way to go. If JAMB can do it, treats school boys and girls with dignity; administer CBT to her candidates, there's certainly no reason why the Immigration Service (which charged N1000 per applicant) should treat her prospective employees with such disrespect, requesting applicants to write recruitment exams in the open, exposed to all the elements. The reason given for the N1000 rip-off (infrastructure, computer hardware and stuff) is no excuse. They can use JAMB's facilities.

We are talking N6billion bucks here, not chicken feeds. Moro should say why he charged [poor job seekers] N1000.

Let us pray.