The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has directed the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB) to immediately conclude the ongoing upload of applicant information in the recruitment exercise for the nation’s paramilitary agencies.
The directive follows mounting complaints from applicants who say they have been unable to track the progress of their submissions or determine their status weeks after completing various stages of the recruitment process.
In a post on his official Facebook page on Friday, the Minister acknowledged the challenges, attributing them to the ongoing data upload.
He stated: “Following recent complaints from applicants into the paramilitary agencies who are still unable to determine their fate due to the ongoing upload of information, I have directed the Secretary of the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board to ensure that all uploads are completed immediately.”
The CDCFIB had earlier announced on Thursday that applicants could begin checking their recruitment status from Friday.
However, many users reported experiencing glitches on the recruitment portal.
Some said the website failed to respond after they entered their login details, while others noted that their dashboards displayed job categories different from those they had applied for.
Several applicants also complained that their names could not be found at all.
A user on X (formerly Twitter), #msg_snr, posted with a picture:
“Who else is seeing this? The applicant applied for NIS, and to this point, the guarantor’s form is showing Fire Service. Yet, on the dashboard, it showed his NIS entries for ASI II (General Duties). Is this a glitch or a typo?”
Another user, #Prince3255, shared a screenshot showing an error message while attempting to access the portal, writing:
“This is a screenshot from your website… We shall be waiting patiently for the outcome even though many of the top officials, politicians, and more have already shared the slots among themselves.”
Several other users posted similar screenshots showing their inability to proceed to the next stage of the exercise.
The PUNCH reports that a total of about 1.9 million applicants applied for roughly 30,000 vacancies across the four paramilitary services.
Solomon Odeniyi
The PUNCH journalist, Solomon, has five years experience covering crime, judiciary and defence beats.