Applicants Protest ₦7,500 Drug Test Fee Despite FG’s Free Screening Promise

Applicants taking part within the ongoing paramilitary recruitment train have expressed concern after being requested to pay ₦7,500 for the necessary drug check, regardless of an earlier assurance by the federal authorities that the train can be performed freed from cost.

The growth seems to contradict an earlier assertion by the Secretary of the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB), Major General Abdulmalik Jibril (retd.), who assured candidates that the federal authorities would bear the total value of the drug screening performed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Jibril gave the reassurance throughout a briefing final week in Abuja following the board’s assembly, the place he introduced that candidates who had reached the oral interview stage would endure necessary drug screening with the NDLEA earlier than gathering their appointment letters.

The Board secretary was quoted to have introduced final week that the drug check can be free, and candidates wouldn’t be required to make any fee.

“Candidates are not to pay anything. They are only to report to NDLEA where they will submit their sample and the result will be given to them instantly,” Jibril had stated.

When particularly requested whether or not the train can be free, the board secretary reiterated that the federal authorities would bear the fee.

“That means it is free. So no candidate will be charged. If any candidate reports and is asked to give money, let him report to the nearest security agency’s office,” he acknowledged.

However, opposite to that assurance, candidates majorl are actually reporting that they’ve been directed to pay ₦7,500 for the drug check.

The quantity is reportedly displayed on the NDLEA’s drug and visa screening portal,”drugandvisa.ndlea.gov.ng,” below the outline “Drug Test,” elevating questions in regards to the implementation of the train and the sooner promise that candidates wouldn’t be charged.

One of the candidates, who gave his identify solely as Abdallah Muhammad from Kano State, expressed disappointment over the event, saying candidates had been led to imagine that the federal authorities would bear the price of the screening.

“We had been instructed that the payments can be footed by the federal authorities, however the NDLEA is now demanding ₦7,500 from us. Imagine multiplying that quantity by 30,000 candidates. That is a large sum of cash.

“We appeal to the Minister of Interior , Dr. Olubummi Tunji-Ojo, to look into this matter and come to our rescue. We hear that he is a man of integrity, and we believe he will intervene on our behalf to ensure that applicants are not made to pay for a service the government had promised would be free,” Muhammad stated.

The growth has sparked issues amongst candidates, lots of whom have waited for months for the conclusion of the recruitment course of. They are actually searching for clarification on why they’re being requested to pay regardless of the board’s earlier assurance.

The recruitment train covers 4 paramilitary businesses: the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Federal Fire Service (FFS).

The Board had introduced that drug screening was a compulsory requirement for profitable candidates who had reached the oral interview stage, including that candidates should receive NDLEA clearance earlier than gathering their appointment letters.

The first batch of the recruitment train is anticipated to cowl 30,000 personnel as a part of the federal authorities’s broader plan to recruit 120,000 personnel into the paramilitary providers.

LEADERSHIP studies that at ₦7,500 per applicant, the reported cost might quantity to ₦225 million if all 30,000 candidates are required to pay.

As of the time of submitting this report, clarification is being sought from the CDCFIB and NDLEA on the reported ₦7,500 cost and whether or not the fee has been formally authorized.

Applicants have appealed to the Minister of Interior to urgently intervene and make clear the state of affairs, notably in view of the Board secretary’s earlier categorical assurance that no candidate can be charged for the drug check.