Navy Demands N1,000 Recruitment Fee from Applicants

The Nigerian navy has insisted that it would go ahead with the collection of N1,000 recruitment fee from applicants seeking to be enlisted into the Service, even as it warned interested applicants against money for job.

The insistence is in spite of the Federal Government’s directive that none of its agencies should collect money from job seekers.

The directive, issued by President Goodluck Jonathan, followed the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment saga earlier this year, during over 18 persons died and several others injured.

Jobseekers were said to have paid N1,000 application fee for that recruitment, which was yet to be refunded as directed by the National Assembly.

A source told National Mirror correspondent in Abuja that there is a standing directive from the Presidency that applicant should not be made to pay money before being recruited into the government workforce.

However, the Nigerian navy insisted that it was unaware of such directive and was going ahead with its age-long tradition of asking applicants to pay for recruitment.

Commodore Kabiru Aliyu, director of Information, DINFO, of the Navy, told National Mirror correspondent that there was no secrecy about what the navy was doing regarding the fee paid for the recruitment.

He said that the N1,000 was meant to obtain the scratch card for access to the Service’s recruitment web page.

“We are not collecting cash. People pay through the bank and collect their scratch cards, you can check the advertisement,” Commodore Aliyu stated.

Asked about the Presidential directive on the issue, the DINFO said, “I cannot answer that question.”

He further said that the recruitment exercise was purely handled by the Service and not contracted to a consultant.

The Navy had advertised its 2014 recruitment exercise, stating that the online registration would take place between October 27 and November 30, 2014.

Applicants were required to apply online at the recruitment portal www.joinnigeriannavy.com, “using a recruitment e-voucher purchased with a bank card issued by any Nigerian bank or voucher purchased from any branch of Union Bank or Unity Bank nationwide at the sum of N1,000 only.”