The Nigerian government has declared a comprehensive review of the recruitment guidelines for the Civil Defence, Fire, Correctional, and Immigration Services, affirming that henceforth, a substantial 35 percent of recruitment slots will be earmarked for women.
The revelation was made by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, during the conclusion of the meeting of the Board of the Civil Defence, Fire, Correctional, and Immigration Services in Abuja on Friday, January 19.
Highlighting that this initiative aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, Tunji-Ojo, represented by the Board’s Secretary, Ja’afaru Ahmed, emphasised the significance of introducing complexity, variability, and unpredictability in the recruitment process.
Present at the briefing were prominent figures, including the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju, the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr. Ahmed Audi; and the Controller-General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Haliru Nababa. The Controller General of the Federal Fire Service (FFS), Abdulganiyu Jaji, also attended the session.
The minister outlined that the ongoing recruitment into the Federal Fire Service would adhere to the newly established guidelines, emphasising professionalism, gender mainstreaming, and adherence to Federal Character principles.
Tunji-Ojo stated, “The federal government, through the Board, has approved the review of the guidelines for recruitment into and promotion in all four Services under the Ministry of Interior.
He further added, “The development also comes with modernisation of the operations of the Nigeria Immigration Service. The modernisation will be all-encompassing, training, recruitment, promotion, professionalism, capacity building, and deployment of cutting-edge technologies.”
Timelines for recruitment into all the services will be released in due course, according to the minister. He also cautioned prospective applicants against falling victim to scammers, urging them to be wary of individuals soliciting money for recruitment into the fire service.
“This is to appeal to Nigerians not to patronise scammers. Anybody asking you to pay money to be recruited into any of the agencies is a scammer. We are aware of their activities and will go after them,” he asserted.
Elaborating on the modernisation of the Immigration Service, Comptroller-General Mrs. Adepoju highlighted a focus on capacity building and specialisation along professional lines. This approach, she says, aims to ensure that promotions are merited based on competence rather than being a reward for redundancy.