According to sources who spoke with SaharaReporters, key officials such as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Commissioners, and members of the State House of Assembly have been allocated special recruitment slots to appoint their preferred candidates, often bypassing the merit-based system.
The recruitment process for various positions within the Niger State Civil Service Commission (CSC) has come under heavy criticism, amid claims of corruption, favouritism, and irregularities.
According to sources who spoke with SaharaReporters, key officials such as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Commissioners, and members of the State House of Assembly have been allocated special recruitment slots to appoint their preferred candidates, often bypassing the merit-based system.
One of the top sources revealed to SaharaReporters that some applicants, who had successfully completed online interview and were shortlisted for the physical interview, were unexpectedly turned away on the day of the interview.
"Some applicants who had been shortlisted were told to leave after waiting for over six hours, without even being interviewed," the source explained.
The applicants were informed that their qualifications did not meet the requirements, despite being selected for the final stage of the process.
"They told us that they were specifically looking for candidates with a different qualification, even though we had been called for the interview," another frustrated applicant said.
Sources within CSC claimed that the commission chairman had limited influence over the recruitment process.
"The real power lies with those above, like the SSG, Commissioners, and members of the State House of Assembly, who have been given special slots to place their own candidates in the system," they explained.
"The list of successful candidates that was posted on the CSC website was not the one used for documentation, instead, a completely different list was used, and many people who had been shortlisted and went for physical screening were not called for documentation."
Candidates across various sectors, particularly in education and health, were left confused and disheartened.
"I applied under education and was shortlisted, but when I went for documentation, my name wasn't there," an applicant told SaharaReporters.
"Many people who were called for documentation didn’t even attend the interviews."
"This is a clear case of injustice and corruption," a source stated. "The government must intervene and set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the massive irregularities that have tainted this process."
"It’s no longer about who deserves it; it’s about who you know and how much you can give," an applicant lamented.
According to a source familiar with the recruitment process, the Niger State Deputy Governor, Yakubu Garba, who also serves as chairman of the recruitment committee, has directed that no committee members speak to the media about the recruitment process.
"Many journalists in the state have attempted to obtain information about what is going on with the recruitment, but their efforts have been fruitless."
SaharaReporters also learnt from the Government House sources that a large number of unqualified candidate names were recently found to have been smuggled in through Abubakar Usman's office as Secretary to the State Government.
It was also learnt that the highest bidders purchase the appointments for between N300,000 and N500,000.
Calls.
Several efforts made by SaharaReporters to get the reactions of Binta Mamman, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, through calls and text messages seeking comment on the report were unsuccessful, as she neither answered the calls nor replied to the texts.