Hundreds of youths, under the umbrella of Taraba Concerned Citizens Forum, on Monday staged a peaceful protest in Jalingo against the alleged extortion by the state government 

The state government directed them to purchase employment forms into the civil service.

The spokesperson of the group, Mansur Jirgi, told journalists during the protest that the N3,500 fee being charged for the civil service form by the state was too high.

The group wondered why the state government would allegedly extort innocent and poor applicants in name of employment at such a time like this.

“We want the state government to abolish the fee and allow applicants to access the employment forms free of charge.

“We equally want the process to be free, fair and transparent, devoid of political interference,” the group said.

In his reaction, the chairman, Taraba  State Civil Service Commission, John Mamman, told journalists that it was the right of the protesters in a democratic society like Nigeria to press for their demands.

He, however, advised them to leave the streets and follow the laid down procedures in registering their grievances.

“It is their right in a democratic society like ours to protest, but in doing so, they were supposed to write us to express their grievances before the protest.

“I want to, however, thank them for making the protest peaceful and advise that they should leave the streets and write to us instead.

“We are about to employ 2,000 people into the service and I expect the youths to appreciate the governor for the initiative to employ people into the service to reduce unemployment and not protest,” he said.