The 2024 recruitment exercise conducted by the Niger State Civil Service Commission has become enmeshed in a recruitment scandal as several applicants alleged their names had been removed from a list of successful candidates.

One of the applicants is Waheed Abiola Wahab. He accused the Niger government of removing his name from the list of successful applicants. After passing the CBT evaluation and the interview last year, Mr Wahab, a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, told Peoples Gazette he visited the commission’s headquarters in Minna on Friday to initiate his onboarding process.

However, he discovered his name had been expunged after scoring 78/100 in the evaluation and 18/20 in the interview.

“My name was removed from the hardcopy list. They told me they have a new list. I have fulfilled all the requirements requested for the recruitment process,” Mr Wahab told The Gazette over the weekend. “Today is also the scheduled date for my local government documentation (Chanchanga LGA), a prerequisite for issuing my appointment letter. Unfortunately, I was denied.”

Checks showed that the commission, last June, shortlisted successful candidates for recruitment into the civil service. Mr Wahab was shortlisted as Education Officer II in Chanchaga LGA.

“Since the shortlist was released, they have not communicated with us. When I learnt that documentation had been finalised for successful applicants in the health cadre, I went to Minna.

“When I got there, I was told they couldn’t see my name, that politicians hijacked it. I was surprised because I had excellent scores throughout the stages of the recruitment,” Mr Wahab stated.

The recruitment officer at the commission did not reply to The Gazette’s request seeking comment on the allegation. The commission’s chairman, Abdulrahman Mahmud Enagi and secretary, Habiba Ahmed, were also reached for comments.

However, a civil servant at the commission, Sarahdeen Yahyah, told The Gazette: “I am not aware of any candidates who passed the exams well, but their names were removed from the list of successful applications scheduled for documentation.

“There was a list earlier fabricated by people outside the commission to confuse the public. The original list contains all candidates who successfully passed the requirements and were shortlisted. Those whose names are not there didn’t pass the exams.”

Another applicant, who spoke under anonymity, accused the commission of fraud. 

The applicant was screened even though her name did not appear on the list of successful candidates, which is still available on the commission’s official website. 

“I applied and wrote the exams. I scored below average. But I got a message later asking for my appearance at the commission headquarters in Minna for documentation, which I successfully completed,” the applicant confessed.

She has since received a letter of appointment from the commission.

Further checks on the Facebook platform, where applicants shared information about the recruitment exercise, showed that many applicants expressed disappointment in the process. They alleged manipulation of original lists, suggesting unnecessary favouritism in the entire exercise.

“They have passed our local government, and nothing like SMS was sent to us. They abandoned the old list and make (sic) another list for there (sic) candidates,” an aggrieved candidate, Sahrat Abubakar, said.

She added, “The governor must do something with this (sic) politicians. The old list was based on merit after all the trials we face from writing exams to interview. Now everything is to no avail.”

Another applicant, Abubakar Yahyah, said, “I have seen someone who failed the test, didn’t receive SMS but has finished documentation.”

Another aggrieved individual, Abu-Farsin Muhammad, alleged that several successful applicants “initially shortlisted as successful candidates have been betrayed.” He accused the commission of replacing “our names” with “some unqualified candidates.”

“I was there. I saw them,” stated Mr Muhammad. “The future of education in this state has been ruined.”