The ongoing recruitment exercise into the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, conforms to due process and in tune with the federal character principle, a spokesman for the commission, has said.
The commission announced recently that it was recruiting 750 cadets. The announcement drew the response of hundreds of thousands of applicants from across the country.
However, after the recruitment exercise at the Nigerian Air Force Base, Mando in Kaduna, there were reports of complaints by some applicants that they were disqualified because they had no god-fathers and that the exercise was tilted in favour of northern candidates.
Denying the allegations in a statement yesterday, the spokesman of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said the recruitment exercise was conducted in full compliance with the published criteria.
The criteria published in the commission’s website had advised applicants that “due to the rigorous nature of the Cadet Training program, all candidates must be physically, medically and mentally fit in conformity with regimental standards”.
The information further said candidates for the recruitment, in addition to other statutory requirements, “Must not be more than 27 years old, must be single; Height (Minimum Male: 1.67m; Female: 1.64m); must have Body Mass Index (BMI) of not more than 30 (Not obese);and Chest Measurement (Not less than 34inches for Males)”.
It further stipulated that the candidates “Must have a good hearing, good eye-sight and sound mind (This is for the purpose of weapon handling and other law enforcement gadgets); no recent medical surgery, no respiratory ailments or life threatening illnesses that can cause harm to the cadet and others during training;
“No tattoos of any form; must not have any criminal record; no membership of any cult or terrorist group; and must not be a user or dependent on any illicit substance or recreational drugs”.
The EFCC said over 200,000 applications were received for the advertised 750 vacancies.
It said the 750 cadets were being meticulously screened.
“The exercise, which is still on-going for the Detective Inspectors (DI) and Detective Superintendents (DS) Cadres (the Detective Assistants, DI, Cadre has been concluded), is conducted transparently and every state is given equal representation.
“We also reiterate that there was no inappropriate conduct by any official during the exercise as being alleged. The physical fitness and medical tests were conducted by officers from the Nigerian Air Force Hospital who are well trained and adhere to the relevant code of medical practice”.
The commission, therefore, urged the media to beware of being used as “instruments of blackmail by applicants who failed the fitness test”.
