The Nigerian Army interviewed 1,304 candidates for enlistment into its Direct Short Service Commission course 25/2020.

A document seen by Peoples Gazette Wednesday afternoon shows that 1,137 males and 167 females were invited for a two-week-long selection test, which was held between November 16 and December 1, 2019 at the Nigerian Army 2 Division Headquarters, Ibadan.

The Gazette learnt that the candidates were drawn from the 36 states of the federation, with each state getting a minimum of 35 slots — except for the Federal Capital Territory which had its quota pegged at 25.

While Imo had the highest number of shortlisted female candidates (14), Bauchi, Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Jigawa and Zamfara had none. Enugu followed in second place with 13 prospective female recruits.

Meanwhile, candidates for the Short Service Combatant course 47/2021 and Direct, will sit for a computer-based pre-selection examination on November 14, 2020.

An internal army correspondence earlier seen by the Gazette stated that at least 4,302 candidates were shortlisted for the competency test slated to hold across six newly assigned zonal centres.

The Abuja centre had the most shortlisted candidates with 2096, while Gombe had 801. Other centres were Enugu 491, Asaba 352, Calabar 334 and Ibadan 228.

The November 14 exams had initially been postponed after an earlier scheduled date, October 31, was shelved due to the imposition of curfew in many parts of the country, in the wake of the #EndSARS protests.

Download full recruitment document here.

Editor’s Note: This page has been updated with 2020 recruitment interviews. The November 2021 pre-selection examination will still go ahead on November 14, 2020 as announced by the Nigerian Army.