About 37,000 Applicants into NPF Await CBT Result

At least 37,000 Nigerians who applied to be enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and sat for a computer-based aptitude (CBA) examination organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), yesterday, are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the exercise to know if they would be among the 6,000 to join the Force.
The examination was part of the process for the recruitment of 6,000 constables into the NPF.Speaking while monitoring the examination in Abuja, JAMB Registrar, Dr. Ishaq Oloyede, congratulated the Nigeria Police for approaching the Board in search of excellence.

The registrar, who monitored the exercise alongside Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Training, Shettima Istifanus, said JAMB has been conducting similar examinations for government agencies and those in private sector that want to maintain high standard and excellence, adding: “We conduct examinations for different agencies, both in the public and private sectors, because we have the facilities that we use may be once or twice in a year. It is a public facility and at minimum cost, we allow people to use the system.

“We have many people who believe in us and they patronise us, particularly those who want to do things transparently.“If you want to do something that is not that transparent, JAMB is not the right place to go. But if you want to set the rules and you want the rules to be enforced and transparently so, JAMB will give you the services at a cost you cannot get elsewhere, because we are using already established facility and it is a public facility. All we ensure is that there must be a set standard and the standard must be enforced.

“I congratulate the Nigeria Police. So far so good, they comply with all the agreements about setting standard and ensuring that there would be no waiver at any point in time.
“We have done about 16 agencies this year and we are starting another one in the next few week. We will be starting the Road Safety Corps very soon and we have assisted MTN, EFCC, Christian Pilgrims Commission, West Africa College of Surgeons and National Postgraduate College and all those who want excellent and transparent test. We will ensure that when it comes to CBT examination, the place to go is JAMB.”

Oloyede, however, said the number of vacancies and level of performance would determine the cut-off mark for the Police recruitment.On his part, Istifanus said the idea behind the aptitude test was to maintain high standard, noting that the examination took place in 156 centres across the country, while over 2,000 applicants wrote the examination at the JAMB headquarters in Abuja.

He said applicants that pass the examination would be shortlisted to proceed for further training at the various Police colleges across the country.“We want to maintain standard in the Nigeria Police. You know JAMB has been very excellent in terms of conducting examinations. We want to get excellent people to join the Police. The reason we involved JAMB is to ensure transparency and with the slogan, ‘Change Begins With Me,’ we have started with ‘Change Begins with Nigeria Police,” he said.

The Police chief disclosed that the requisite qualification for enlistment into the Force is possession of at least five credits in the Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSSC), including English Language and Mathematics.