Sir, your allegation of impropriety in the recruitment by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is untrue and mischievous.
The procedure adopted for the exercise meets the highest test of integrity, transparency and stakeholder involvement. Merit was strongly applied in considering the applications; and because INEC is a public agency, the Federal Character Commission was fully consulted in the application of the quota principle. Contrary to your allegation that applicants “wasted their time and money,” no money was requested or obtained from the applicants.
It is widely known that more than 800,000 applications were received for the 1,500 jobs that INEC had on offer. Out of those applications, 6,000 applicants were shortlisted for aptitude testing. For your information, the list published on your website contains selected names out of the shortlist of applicants invited for the aptitude test, not the applicants ultimately considered for the jobs.
To avoid the mischief that could be resorted to by aggrieved persons, the Commission had taken the initiative to deny themselves by excluding qualified family members (children, sisters, brothers, wives, husbands) of senior INEC officials. This sacrifice was painful, but considered necessary for the exercise. It is sad that mischief is yet been made about the process.
As evidence of the transparency of the recruitment exercise, the Commission will shortly upload the criteria applied in the exercise on its website.
–
Kayode Robert Idowu
Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman
