Confirming this development in a statement, the agency disclosed that only 1,858 persons were successful in the recent recruitment out of over 105,000 candidates who applied online and offline and partook in a very competitive process which spanned a two year period.
The Head of Corporate Communications of the agency, Val. O. Akeredolu disclosed in a statement that FIRS received applications from Nigerians from all walks of life, including Nigerians outside the country.
The statement further added that: “At all times and with due sense of responsibility, the FIRS Board and Management ensured that recruitment was done fully in line with the laws of the land and the policies of the FIRS to achieve the desired level of professionalism to drive quality service delivery. The FIRS employed all known professional approaches in recruiting staff towards ensuring that the right quality of staff was employed by the Service. All applicants were interviewed prior to acceptance in the FIRS.”
The agency denied allegation that it favoured candidates from powerful stakeholders like ministers and legislators and also punctured insinuation that some staff who had been in the Service were sidelined and preference given to new staff in the recent recruitment exercise and in the recently released 2008 promotion exercise.
The FIRS said that it “will not exclude anyone from the recruitment process for being or not being related to particular persons. The most important thing is that those who were employed were qualified for the positions they were considered for and were successful in the interviews conducted, moderated by external consultants.”
The agency said there was no truth in the claim that existing staff had been neglected in promotion. According to the statement “all vacancies filled by new staff were arrived at after due consideration to staff who had indicated interest. In fact, not all vacancies have been filled, to give room for staff that succeed in the 2009 and 2010 promotion exercises planned for later this year. The 2008 promotion exercise was done in full compliance with the guidelines of the Federal Civil Service Commission.”
In line with FIRSEA 2007 and the need to address staffing gaps long identified in the Service, the FIRS began taking steps to reposition the Service starting with a placement exercise to align staff to positions within the redefined organization structure of the Service and then a massive recruitment exercise which was concluded in July 2010. The placement exercise was originally to include a competency test administered on all staff of the Service.
However, due to staff preference, the test was dropped, albeit with an understanding that all vacancies in the Service would be advertised and be filled by qualified internal staff and external stakeholders or persons. FIRS Management decided that AT NO TIME would an external person be hired if such a person did not meet the minimum qualification of the Service or bring added value over and above that provided by existing staff.
Read the full text of the statement here FIRS Rejoinders on Recruitment Exercise
