Chief of Naval Staff faces looming employment scandal in Nigerian Navy  

A new scandal may be brewing in the Nigerian Navy over the proposed recruitment into the direct short service programme of that unit of the Nigerian Armed Forces. A leaked letter dated September 16, 2019, signed by Rear Admiral FF Ogu, for the Chief of the Naval Staff, to the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Navy in the National Assembly raises suspicion of clandestine plot by the Chief of Naval Staff to ‘concede’ the recruitment exercise to the federal lawmakers.

The leaked letter highlighted details of the awareness and recruitment procedures, including the prescribed duration for application.

However, the Chef of Naval Staff raised suspicion of Nigerians after emphasizing that the advertisement would be placed in three national newspapers, beside the website of the Navy, formally requested the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy to disseminate the information to the Committee members, principal officers and other members of the House to communicate the information to their respective constituencies.

Apparently, the Navy boss is being suspected to be allocating recruitment slots to the federal lawmakers than Nigerians in general. This is so since there have been allegations in the past of appointments into reputable government agencies which include the NNPC, Central Bank of Nigeria, Customs, AMCON, among others, being shared among politicians, mostly principal officers in the Presidency, governors and lawmakers. The appointments were seldom transparent while Nigerians who have no link to partisan political or state actors were shut out of the recruitments.

Invariably, the leaked letter of the Chief of Naval Staff to the Chairman of house Committee on Navy, presupposes grand plot to distribute the recruitment slots to the lawmakers and excluding non-partisan Nigerians from the government employment.

The letter to the Chairman, House Committee on Navy reads inter alia:

“Nigerian Navy Direct Short Service Commission Course 22 Enlistment Exercise:

1. The Chief of the Naval Staff presents his complements to the Honourable Chairman House Committee on Navy and is pleased to inform the Chairman that the Nigerian Navy (NN) Direct Short Service Commission Course 27 Enlistment Exercise is scheduled for October – December 2019. Online registration would be free of charge and will commence on 3 October and close on 14 November 2019.

Accordingly, advertisements would be placed in 3 national newspapers on 2 October, 2019, while other details could be obtained from the NN website www.joinnigeriannavy.com whichh will open on 3 October 2019.

2. In view of the following, I am directed to most respectfully request the Honourable Chairman to disseminate the information to Members, House Committee on Navy, Principal Officers and other members of the House for the awareness of their res-perceive constituents.
3. Please accept the assurances of the Chief of Naval Staff’s highest esteem.”

There is the fear that Nigerians who will be applying for the short service recruitment into the Navy may be wasting their time as they appear to be applying for vacancies that may not exist or may have been shared among political and state actors.