Commission to introduce aptitude test in police recruitment process

The  Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr Solomon Arase, has revealed that plans are ongoing to review the sequence for recruitment into the Nigeria Police, with aptitude tests coming first to eliminate substandard applicants.

The commission according to a statement by Ikechukwu Ani, the Head of Press and Public Relations of PSC, on Tuesday in Abuja said Arase spoke in reaction to the ongoing police recruitment exercise.

Arase disclosed that the plan to review the sequence for the recruitment process followed reports reaching the commission from the field.

He said the report showed that many candidates with beautiful Senior Secondary School Certificates (SSSC) and National Examination Council certificates could not write their names or introduce themselves.

The PSC boss had expressed shock over the development and was worried about how the excellent certificates were acquired.

According to him, with aptitude tests coming as the first stage of the recruitment process, unqualified candidates will be eliminated, and this will reduce the number of people who appear for screening.

He expressed optimism that the commission would get it right and produce a template for an effective and efficient recruitment exercise in Nigeria.

“When we get it right at the entry point, we would have almost gotten 60 per cent quality in the expected performance of the officers, and that is our objective,” Arase said.

Arase said 136,177 applicants for the ongoing police recruitment had been screened since the commencement of the exercise on January 8 nationwide.

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“The PSC, through the Police Recruitment Board, is currently screening 416,270 Nigerian youths who have shown interest and applied to be considered for a career in the Nigeria Police Force.

“The candidates are being subjected to physical and credentials screening, a prelude to an aptitude test, and other processes, including a medical examination.

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“The Commission has, with the ongoing recruitment exercise, upgraded and automated the processes to ensure credibility and create a measurable standard for the final selection of successful candidates,” he said.

According to him, the results and outcome of the screening will be uploaded in real time to the commission’s portal and monitored by the Situation Room.

He said 108,768 candidates out of the 136,177 screened had been successfully uploaded, while others were being delayed because of network challenges.